A painful, global feeling of being flawed or unworthy as a person.
A painful, global feeling of being flawed or unworthy as a person — “I am bad.”
The global, self-directed emotion: the standard psychological distinction (Tangney) is that shame is about the whole self (“I am bad”) where guilt is about an act (“I did something bad”) — which makes shame the more corrosive, withdrawal-linked feeling. Shame and guilt are self-appraisals (they rest in our own eyes), unlike embarrassment and humiliation, which hinge on others' appraisal. Deeper and more enduring than embarrassment; self-generated, unlike the externally inflicted humiliation.
Old English scamu “shame, modesty,” from Proto-Germanic *skamō, often traced to a PIE root meaning “to cover” (covering oneself being a common reflex of shame).
One of the oldest words in the family, stable in core meaning; the lighter sense “a pity” (“it's a shame”) is layered on top. No reliable recent-generation shift.