What Does Chagrin Mean?

Chagrin defines a feeling where a person experiences embarrassment or annoyance. The reason for these emotions can be failure, a disconcerting event or disappointment. Though it is a noun it can be written in its verb forms of chagrined, chagrining and chagrins.

The word chagrin is from the French word Chagrin. There are two different versions of the etymology of the word given by scholars. The first suggest that it was derived from the French word "shagreen" which meant a rough skinned piece of leather or skin. Another version suggests that it has come from the German word "Katzenjammer" which implies "a hangover from drinking".

The French meaning of the word Chagrin is sorrow and this equates well with the original French meaning of a rough skinned piece of leather. This material was used to polish and clean surfaces much like the sorrow felt by man.