'price-gouging' is formed from 'price' + 'gouging'. The verb 'gouge' in English comes from Middle English/Old French 'gouge' (a chisel or gouge tool), where the root referred to a tool for cutting out or scooping.

'gouge' originally referred to a physical tool in Old French and Middle English, then developed figurative senses such as 'to scoop out' and later 'to extort' or 'to overcharge' in colloquial English; the compound 'price gouging' emerged to describe extortionate increases in prices.

Initially, 'gouge' meant 'to cut or scoop out' (a literal sense); over time a figurative sense of 'to extort or overcharge' developed, and 'price-gouging' now specifically means 'charging excessively high prices.'