German prefix "denoting destruction, reversal, or completion" [Watkins], from Proto-Germanic *fer-, *far-, from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through." The native equivalent is for-.

word-forming element meaning "deputy, assistant, substitute," also "instead of, in place of," 15c., from Latin vice "in place of," ablative of vicis "a change, a turn, interchange alternation" (from PIE root *weik- (2) "to bend, to wind"). In Middle English sometimes borrowed in Old French form vis-, vi-.

word-forming element; see video (adj.).