embarrassing
em·bar·rass·ing/ɪmˈbæɹ.ə.sɪŋ/noun, adjective, verb
embarrassing is spelled E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-I-N-G, 4 syllables: em·bar·rass·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is embarassing: about 620 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Embarrassing is a noun meaning “The action of the verb to embarrass; embarrassment”. The plural of embarrassing is embarrassings.
How many letters and syllables are in embarrassing?
| Letters | 12: E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: em·bar·rass·ing |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,595th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, embarassing, about 620 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell embarrassing?
Embarrassing is spelled E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-I-N-G. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for embarrassing in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is embarrassing?
Embarrassing appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce embarrassing?
- UK /ɪmˈbæɹ.ə.sɪŋ/
- US /ɪmˈbæɹ.ə.sɪŋ/
- /ɪmˈbɛɹ.ə.sɪŋ/
Embarrassing has 4 syllables, split em·bar·rass·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-embarrassing.wav, En-us-embarrassing.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of embarrassing
- embarrassings plural
- more embarrassing comparative
- most embarrassing superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does embarrassing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of the verb to embarrass; embarrassment.
May 11, 1715, Robert Wodrow, letter to Mrs Wodrow It seemed, at first, to be agreed, that the King should be addressed by the Assembly; but the time of presenting, because of the present embarrassings of affairs, to be left to the Commissio
adjective
- 1
Causing embarrassment; leading to a feeling of uncomfortable shame or self-consciousness.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of embarrass
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Embarrassing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense causing embarrassment:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | embarrassant, gênant |
| German | peinlich, bemühend, blamabel, beschämend, unangenehm |
| Portuguese | embaraçoso, constrangedor |
| Spanish | vergonzoso, embarazoso, bochornoso, abochornante, sonrojante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does embarrassing come from?
By surface analysis, embarrass + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).