abash
/əˈbæʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.02 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
Etymology
Attested from 1303, as Middle English abaisen, abaishen, abashen (“lose one's composure, be upset”), from the later 14th-century also transitive "to make ashamed, to perplex or embarrass"; from Anglo-Norman abaïss, from Middle French abair, abaisser (“lose one's composure, be startled, be stunned”), from Old French esbaïr, (French ébahir), from es- (“utterly”) + baïr (“to astonish”), from Medieval Latin *exbadō, from ex- (“out of”) + bado (“to gape, yawn”), an onomatopoeic word imitating a yawn, see also French badaud (“rubbernecker”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈbæʃ/
- British English: /əˈbæʃ/