Embarrass

How to spell embarrass

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce embarrass

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does embarrass mean?

1. verbTo make someone feel awkward, self-conscious, or ashamed.

Embarrass in a sentence

• Please don't embarrass me in front of my colleagues.

• I didn't want to embarrass him in public.

• It can embarrass you to be called out unexpectedly.

Where does embarrass come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes through French embarrasser, meaning 'to block' or 'to obstruct', which French had borrowed from the Spanish embarazar 'to impede' or 'to hamper'. Both trace back to the root barra, meaning a 'bar' or 'barrier', so the original literal idea was of placing a bar in someone's path. When English adopted the word in the early 1600s, the sense was still physical, describing things that were tangled, cluttered, or blocked; the modern emotional meaning of making someone feel awkward grew out of that notion of being mentally hampered or thrown into confusion. The Spanish embarazar is also why Spanish 'embarazada' means 'pregnant', a famous trap for English speakers who assume it means 'embarrassed'. The double r and double s are the heart of the spelling trap: the word inherited a doubled r from the Romance bar root and a doubled s from the French ending, and English keeps both, which is why so many adults write only one of each.

How the word is built

• em- (in)
• barr (bar)
• -ass (intensifier)