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What does “vergonha alheia” mean in Portuguese?

Vergonha is shame or embarrassment; alheio means “belonging to someone else.” Put them together and vergonha alheia names the squirm you feel watching another person humiliate themselves — secondhand embarrassment, the reason people hide behind a cushion during an awkward scene. English needs a whole phrase for it; Portuguese hands you a noun.

The phrase is strongest in Brazil; Portugal uses it too, alongside the more careful vergonha reflexa. Related everyday lines: que vergonha! (“how embarrassing!”), estou com vergonha (“I’m shy / embarrassed”) and sem-vergonha, a noun for a shameless rogue. Alheio is worth keeping as well — bens alheios, “other people’s property.”