Etymology

embarrass

em·bar·rass
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Today it means: To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. Full definition →

French embarrasser ← Spanish embarazar ← Old Spanish embaraçar
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embarrass · verb1

  1. Akkadian𒆟 (rakāsum)
  2. Akkadian𒄙 (markasu)
  3. Classical Syriacܡܰܪܫܳܐ (maršā)
  4. Arabicمَرَسَة (marasa)
  5. Old Galician-Portuguesebaraço
  6. Old Galician-Portugueseembaraçar
  7. Old Spanishembaraçar
  8. Spanishembarazar
  9. Frenchembarrasser
  10. English todayembarrass

Borrowed from French embarrasser, from Middle French embarrasser, embarasser (“to embarrass; to block, obstruct”), from Spanish embarazar, either from Italian imbarazzare or from Portuguese embaraçar.

Embarrass · proper noun2

  1. French · derived fromembarrasser“block, impede, obstruct”
  2. English todayEmbarrass

Apparently from French embarrasser (“block, impede, obstruct”). The name was probably applied to the rivers first.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.