Word of the Day

Did You Know?

Despite what its second syllable may lead one to believe, chagrin has nothing to do with grinning or amusement—quite the opposite, in fact. Chagrin, which almost always appears in phrases such as “to his/her/their chagrin,” refers to the distress one feels following a humiliation, disappointment, or failure. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the word’s French ancestor, the adjective chagrin, means “sad.” What may be surprising is that the noun form of the French chagrin, meaning “sorrow” or “grief,” can also refer to a rough, untanned leather (and is itself a modification of the Turkish word sağrı, meaning “leather from the rump of a horse”). This chagrin gave English the word shagreen, which can refer to such leather, or to the rough skin of various sharks and rays.