a French exclamation meaning 'there it is!' or 'behold!' used to show something suddenly or draw attention to a completed act.
From French 'voila,' a contraction of 'vois là' (see there), from Latin 'video' (to see) + 'ille' (that). The phrase entered English in the 1700s from French theater and performance.
The French kept saying 'vois là' (see there!) so many times it smashed together into 'voila'—magicians and chefs loved this word because you literally say it right when you're showing off your finished work, so it stuck around in English!
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