Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “embarrassing” come from?

Embarrassing comes from French embarrasser, from Spanish embarazar, from Portuguese embaraçar, ultimately from Latin in- meaning "in" or "into."

embarrassing (English): present participle of embarrass; The action of...

Definitions

  1. present participle of embarrass; The action of...

Ancestry of “embarrassing”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishembarrassto humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or...
2Frenchembarrasserembarrass; clutter; block
3English-erA person or thing that does an action indicated...
4Middle English-eragentive suffix; agent noun suffix
5Old French-erAlternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;...
6Latin-āre—
7Proto-Italic-āōForms primarily denominative verbs
8Proto-Indo-European-eh₂yétiCreates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive...
9Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
10Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
11Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “embarrassing”

  • embarrassingly
  • unembarrassing
  • embarrassingness
Every word from Chichewa iye →