What is Bisaya or Visayan?

Root Word for Bisaya is from the word Visayan or Visayas

Bisaya or Binisaya is not a single dialect, it is not just Cebuano (many people in Mindanao and  Cebu thought that Bisaya is a single dialect which refers to Cebuano which is totally wrong!). In fact Waray, Aklanon, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), karay-a, bol-anon and many others are also Bisaya dialects.

Bisaya really refers to different Visayan people, who live in different parts of Visayas Islands, who speak different Visayan dialects such as Waray, Aklanon, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), karay-a, bol-anon, and many others Visayan dialects.

Bisaya people or Visayans are a group of people of Malay ancestry who originated from the central and southern regions of the Philippines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisaya

Native speakers of Visayan languages, especially Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Waray-Waray not only refer to their language by their local name, but also by Bisaya or Binisaya, meaning Visayan language. This is misleading or may lead to confusion as different languages may be called Bisaya by their respective speakers despite their languages being mutually unintelligible. However, languages that are classified within the Visayan language family but spoken natively in places outside of the Visayas do not use the self-reference Bisaya or Binisaya. To speakers of Butuanon, Suriganon, and Masbatenyo, the term Bisaya usually refers to Cebuano.

source: http://www.answers.com/topic/visayan-languages

The most well-known Bisaya or Visayan dialect is Cebuano, spoken by 18 million people followed by Hiligaynon (ilonggo), spoken by 7 million in western Visayas and Waray-Waray spoken by 3 million in eastern Visayas.

source: wikipedia & bisaya.net