chagrin
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From French chagrin (“sorrow”). Prior to that, the etymology is unclear, with several theories – of Germanic or possibly Turkish origin.
From dialectical French chagraigner (“to be gloomy, distress”), from chat (“cat”) + Old French graim (“sorrow, gloom; sorrowful, gloomy”), from Frankish gram, a loan translation of German Katzenjammer (“drunken hang-over”), from Katzen (“cats”) + jammer (“distress, sorrow, lament”). Akin to German Gram[1], Old Norse gramr (“wroth”) (whence Danish gram), Old English grama (“anger”), grim (“grim, gloomy”) (Modern English grim).
Another theory derives French chagrin from the verb chagriner, in its turn from Old French grigner, which is of Germanic origin and cognate to English grin.[2]. More at cat, grim, grimace, grin, yammer.
The OED 2nd Edition states that the original meaning of chagrin was a “rough skin” (now preserved in the word shagreen) used to polish things, and that in French the word “became by metaphor the expression for gnawing trouble.”[3] However, other sources derive shagreen (and chagrin in the sense of “rough skin”) from Turkish sağrı,[4][5][6] and it is unclear if there was influence between an existing French word and a Turkish loan.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
chagrin (uncountable)
- Distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, want of appreciation, mistakes etc; vexation or mortification.
- 1876, Louisa May Alcott, Rose In Bloom, ch. 8:
- [H]e alone knew how deep was the deluded man's chagrin at the failure of the little plot which he fancied was prospering finely.
- 1876, Louisa May Alcott, Rose In Bloom, ch. 8:
- A type of leather or skin with a rough surface.[3]
[edit] Usage notes
- Often used in the form to one’s chagrin.
[edit] Synonyms
- (distress of mind): disquiet, fretfulness, mortification, peevishness, vexation
- (type of leather): shagreen
[edit] Descendants
[edit] Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
[edit] See also
[edit] Verb
chagrin (third-person singular simple present chagrins, present participle chagrining, simple past and past participle chagrined)
- (transitive) To bother or vex; to mortify.
- She was chagrined to note that the paint had dried into a blotchy mess.
[edit] Usage notes
- The verb form is rarely found in other than passive voice.
[edit] Translations
[edit] References
- ^ “chagrin” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
- ^ Le Robert pour tous, Dictionnaire de la langue française, Janvier 2004, p. 169, chagrin and chagriner
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “chagrin” in OED Online, Oxford University Press, 1989.
- ^ "shagreen." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2008.
- ^ “shagreen” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.
- ^ "shagreen", Webster's New World College Dictionary 2010
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] French
[edit] Etymology
From chagriner, perhaps from Frankish gram, akin to German Gram[1]
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
chagrin m. (plural chagrins)
[edit] Adjective
chagrin m. (f. chagrine, m. plural chagrins, f. plural chagrines)
- (literary) despondent, woeful
- (literary) disgruntled, morose
[edit] Related terms
[edit] References
- Word of the day archive
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Turkish
- English nouns
- English verbs
- French terms derived from Frankish
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- French adjectives
- French literary terms
