Embarrassment is an unpleasant emotional state experienced upon having a socially unacceptable act or condition witnessed by or revealed to others.

It is similar to shame, except that shame may be experienced for an act known only to oneself. Also, embarrassment usually carries the connotation of being caused by an act that is merely socially unacceptable, rather than morally wrong.

Some causes of embarrassment may include:

• losing in a competition
• socially awkward behaviour
• making unwarranted and incorrect assumptions about others
• being mistaken
• accidents (tripping, spilling liquids, etc.)
• being seen urinating or defecating, (more-so by women)
• flatulence
• misbehaving while drunk
• being seen nude or inappropriately dressed
• being seen masturbating or having sex
• being seen in a sexually aroused state, such as with an erection
• discussing sexual matters
• body odor
• medical conditions (vomiting, fainting, suffering a medical emergency)
• having private information revealed (such as being the subject of gossip)
• mistaking one person for another.
• accompanying or being associated with someone who is behaving in an embarrassing way
• witnessing someone else's embarrassment (empathic embarrassment)
• being made the focus of attention (e.g. the birthday celebrant)
• receiving misdirected or excessive praise or compliments

being dangled from a flying helicopter being flown by your mother while naked and drunk while your girlfriend and all of her friends point and laugh at you from the helicopter door, and then they cut the line and you fall into a giant pile of manure, and then you get arrested for indecent exposure and the cops have laughs at your expense for the entire drive to jail where you're anally raped by a large man with STDs who you then recognize as your old buddy Tim from elementary school, and then Tim is like "John! Wow! It's been a long time! How are things going buddy? Hey listen, I know a doctor who's really good with hemorrhoids. But you don't have hemorrhoids, so you don't really care. But then you start to develop feelings for Tim, and have to let your girlfriend know that, when she visits. And then she breaks up with you, but you don't care b/c you have Tim. But you're still embarasssed, b/c this is the article for embarassment. Embarrassment is often accompanied by blushing, nervousness, stammering, and fidgeting.

The English word embarrassed has taken an unusual path into English. The first written usage of embarrass in English was in 1664 by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The word was derived from the French word embarrasser, "to block," or "obstruct",¹ whose first recorded usage was by Michel de Montaigne in 1580. The French word was derived from the Spanish embarazar, whose first recorded usage was in 1460 in Cancionero de Stúñiga (Songbook of Stúñiga) by Álvaro de Luna.² The Spanish word comes from the Portuguese embaraçar, which is a combination of the prefix em- (from Latin im- for "in-") with baraço or baraça, "a noose", or "rope".³ Baraça originated before the Romans began their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC.⁴ Thus, baraça could be related to the Celtic word barr, "tuft". (Celtic people actually settled much of Spain and Portugal beginning in the 700s BC, the second group of people to do so.)⁵ However, it certainly is not directly derived from it, as the subsitution of r for rr in Ibero-Romantic languages was not a known occurrence.

Some say the Spanish word actually came from the Italian imbarazzare, from imbarazzo, "obstacle" or "obstruction". That word came from imbarrare, "to block", or "bar", which is a combination of in-, "in" with barra, "bar" (from the Vulgar Latin barra, which is of unknown origin).⁶ The problem with this theory is that the first known usage of the word in Italian was by Bernardo Davanzati (1529-1606), long after the word had entered Spanish.⁷

• modesty
• humiliation
• shame
• guilt

• Bibliography of Embarrassment Research

1. "embarras," The Oxford English Dictionary, (1989) <http://dictionary.oed.com> [Accessed February 15, 2006].
2. Joan Corominas and José Pacual, "embarazar," Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, (Gredos, 1980) Vol. II, p. 555-556.
3. "embarrass," Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (2002) <http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com> [Accessed February 15, 2006].
4. Corominas, "embarazar".
5. "Iberian," Encyclopaedia Britannica, <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041884> [Accessed February 15, 2006].
6. Corominas, "embarazar".
7. "embarrass," The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (2000) <http://www.bartleby.com/61/12/E0101200.html> [Accessed February 15, 2006].