smashing
The origin and history of smashing.
Etymology
From smash plus -ing. The "wonderful" sense arose in early-20th-century American English, likely linked to the phrase "smash hit" rather than to any Gaelic phrase, despite a popular but unsupported folk theory.
Class of 1900
smashing first entered the language around 1900. Other words from the same year:
See the full Class of 1900 →