"paranormal gift of seeing things out of sight," 1837, from special use of French clairvoyance (Old French clerveans, 13c.) "quickness of understanding, sagacity, penetration," from clairvoyant (see clairvoyant). A secondary sense in French is the main sense in English.
clairvoyance clair·voy·ance (klâr-voi'əns)
n.
The perception of objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.
knowledge of information not necessarily known to any other person, not obtained by ordinary channels of perceiving or reasoning-thus a form of extrasensory perception (ESP). Spiritualists also use the term to mean seeing or hearing (clairaudience) the spirits of the dead that are said to surround the living. Research in parapsychology-such as testing a subject's ability to predict the order of cards in a shuffled deck-has yet to provide conclusive support for the existence of clairvoyance.