Plural of gassing: the act of poisoning with toxic gas, or the process of applying gas to something.
From 'gas' (coined by Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont in the 1600s) + '-ing' suffix denoting an action or process. The word evolved to mean various applications of gas, from industrial processes to tragic historical contexts.
The word 'gas' itself was invented—van Helmont based it on the Greek word 'chaos' because gases seemed chaotic and formless. So every time we talk about gassing, we're using a word that's only about 400 years old and was literally made up by a scientist.
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