Self-conscious distress at awkward exposure in front of others.
Self-conscious distress at awkward exposure in front of others — the mildest, most social member of the family.
The mildest and most social: the unease that arises when something about us comes to light before others in a way that dents the image we hope to present — audience-dependent (it lives in others' eyes). Tellingly, embarrassment is something we trip into ourselves, whereas humiliation is inflicted on us. It concerns a fleeting awkward exposure (a faux pas, a blush), not a defective self (shame) or a moral wrong (guilt), and tends to pass quickly and leave no lasting mark.
1670s “perplex, throw into doubt,” from French embarrasser, literally “to block, bar” (via Italian/Spanish forms from a root for “bar” or “noose”). The literal image is of being blocked or tied up.
A clear shift from physical “obstruct, hamper” (1670s) to the psychological “make self-conscious” (by 1809). The original sense survives in “an embarrassment of riches” and “financially embarrassed.” No reliable recent-generation shift.