chagrin
Meanings
Plural: chagrins
Noun
- strong feelings of embarrassment
- Distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, want of appreciation, mistakes etc; vexation or mortification.
- A type of leather or skin with a rough surface.
Verb
- cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
- To bother or vex; to mortify.
- To be vexed or annoyed.
Adj
- Feeling chagrin; annoyed; vexed, fretful.
Origin / Etymology
From French chagrin (“sorrow”), from Middle French chagrin (“pain, affliction”) (compare Middle French chagriner, chagrigner (“to experience sorrow”), Old French chagrin (“painful, afflicted”)), probably derived from Old Northern French chagreiner, chagraigner (“to sadden”), of uncertain origin. Likely an enlargement of Old French greignier, graignier (“to cringe, growl, be sullen, be angry, grieve over”), from Old French graigne (“sadness, resentment, grief”), from graim (“sorrowful”), related to Old High German gram (“furious, gloomy, grieved”). The initial syllable is obscure. It may represent Old French chat (“cat”) to express the idea of "lamenting or yowling like cats" (compare German Katzenjammer (“distress, frustration, depression, chagrin”, literally “cat-wailing, cat-misery”), katzbalgen (“to cat-fight”)).
An alternative theory is that it came from a metaphorical use of French chagrin, (peau de) chagrain (“a type of roughened leather”), with the connection of roughness, though some dictionaries consider this to be a separate word derived from Old French peau de sagrin, from Ottoman Turkish [script needed] (sağrı, “the rump of an animal, skin for tawing”). The alteration of initial s to ch is likely due to influence from chagrin meaning "sorrow".
Synonyms
abase, chagrined, disquiet, fretfulness, humble, humiliate, humiliation, mortification, mortify, peevishness, shagreen, vexation
Scrabble Score: 13
chagrin is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordchagrin is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
chagrin is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary