Borrowed from French embarrasser, from Spanish embarazar, from Portuguese embaraçar, from em- (from Latin in-) + baraço ("noose, rope"), from Arabic مَرَسَة, ultimately from Akkadian 𒄙.

• IPA: /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs/
• (Mary-marry-merry) IPA: /ɪmˈbɛɹ.əs/

embarrass (embarrasses, present participle embarrassing; simple past and past participle embarrassed)

1. (transitive) to humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely; to abash.

   The crowd's laughter and jeers embarrassed him.

2. (transitive) To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct.

   The motion was advanced in order to embarrass the progress of the bill.

   • 1796, Benjamin Count of Rumford, “Of Chimney Fire-places”, in Essays, Political, Economical and Philosophical‎, page 330:

     If they [registers] act It all, it must be by opposing their flat surfaces to the current of rising smoke in a manner which cannot fail to embarrass and impede its motion..

   • 1896, Frederic Harrison, addendum to Harriet Martineau's translation of The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte Vol. 3, p. 418. ↗:

     This will... be the principal part of education; and this alone will effectively dispel that theological philosophy, which, in its decline, is still powerful enough to embarrass the course both of intellectual and social progress.

3. (transitive) To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to encumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands.

   A man or his business is embarrassed when he cannot meet his pecuniary engagements.

4. (transitive, dated) To perplex mentally; confuse, disconcert; catch off guard.

• (humiliate) abash, discomfit, disconcert, humiliate, shame
• See also Thesaurus:abash

• French: embarrasser, gêner
• German: verlegen machen, demütigen, kränken
• Italian: imbarazzare, mettere in imbarazzo
• Portuguese: embaraçar
• Russian: смуща́ть
• Spanish: avergonzar, abochornar, sonrojar, humillar

Apparently from French embarrasser.

1. A river or settlement in USA:
   1. A river in Minnesota, a tributary of the Saint Louis River (Lake Superior tributary).
   2. A river in Wisconsin, a tributary of the Wolf River (Fox River tributary).
   3. A twp in Edgar County, Illinois.
   4. A twp/and/ucomm therein, in St. Louis County.
   5. A village in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, located on the above river.