Formingen

Formingen is a Dutch noun that denotes formation, development, or the process of forming. It is the plural of the noun vorming, itself derived from the verb vormen (to form). In general use, formingen refers to how something comes into being or is organized, including the steps, stages, or results of such processes.

In scientific and scholarly discourse, formingen appear in discussions of formation processes across disciplines. In geology, the term for a distinct, mappable rock unit is typically called een formatie (formation) rather than vorming, but the concept of formation in the sense of a process that creates geological features may be described with vorming. In chemistry and materials science, several formation processes—such as crystallization or polymerization—may be described as vormen or vormingen.

In the social sciences and humanities, formingen is used to talk about the formation of social orders, institutions, or cultural practices, often discussed in terms of social formations in English. In biology and medicine, vorming refers to the formation of tissues, organs, or cells, for example in embryology or tissue engineering; the plural formingen would refer to multiple formation events or processes.

When translating to English, formingen is commonly rendered as formation or formation processes, depending on context. See also vorming, formatie, and sociale vorming.