Where does “embarrassment” come from?
Embarrassment comes from French embarrasser, from Old French -ment and Latin -mentum, ultimately from Latin mens meaning mind, derived from Proto-Indo-European méntis, with the prefix in- from Latin in-.
embarrassment (English): A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or...
Definitions
- A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or...
Ancestry of “embarrassment”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | embarrass | to humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or... |
| 2 | French | embarrasser | embarrass; clutter; block |
| 3 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 4 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 5 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 6 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |