gaseous

Etymology

It is formed from English gas + -eous,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} after aqueous, according to the Shorter Oxford.^[7] The OED compares gazeux in French (1775), Spanish gaseoso (1787 or earlier) and Italian gassoso.^[2] Gas is from Dutch gas, coined by the Flemish chemist J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644) as an alteration of Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “empty space, chaos”), the fricative sound of the Dutch letter g standing for the Greek letter chi.^[2][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in Thomas Henry's 1783 translation of Lavoisier's essays on the air, is a rare chemical sense the OED marks obsolete.^[2] The lasting sense, "of the nature or form of a gas", follows in 1785, in a translation of Fourcroy's chemistry.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1799,^[3][5] and Dictionary.com to 1790–1800.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective arose in the chemistry of the late 18th century, when the modern scientific sense of gas took hold, from 1779 in Etymonline's dating.^[3][2] From 1805 it was also used for things relating to or involving gases.^[2] A figurative sense, "light, insubstantial; inflated, overblown", is recorded from 1846, in Landor's Imaginary Conversations,^[2] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster still give "lacking substance or solidity".^[8][5] The American Heritage Dictionary also records gaseous for "full of gas, gassy".^[8]

Timeline

• 1783 – a rare chemical sense, now obsolete.^[2]
• 1785 – of the nature or form of a gas; composed of gas.^[2]
• 1805 – relating to or involving a gas or gases.^[2]
• 1846 – figurative, light, insubstantial; inflated.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or existing as a gas: gaseous fuels such as methane.^{[8][9][10][5]}
2. Lacking substance or solidity; tenuous or vague.^[8][5][2]
3. Full of gas; gassy.^[8]

Word family

• gaseousness
• nongaseous
• pseudogaseous

Related words

• gas
• chaos
• aqueous

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press