Acute vexation or mortified annoyance caused by failure, disappointment, or a blow to one's pride..
Acute vexation or mortified annoyance caused by failure, disappointment, or a blow to one's pride.
A wounded, self-conscious irritation specifically caused by failure, disappointment, or humiliation — not guilt over a wrong (so it differs sharply from remorse or contrition). Unlike plain anger or annoyance, chagrin is tinged with humiliation and loss of face; unlike shame, it is more about disappointment and pique than moral defilement. Almost always appears in “to his/her chagrin.” (Despite the spelling, unrelated to “grin.”)
1650s “melancholy,” from French chagrin “vexation.” Origin disputed: possibly from a word for rough skin/shagreen (the notion being “roughness, harshness”), or from an Old French word for grief.
Entered English meaning “melancholy” (1650s), narrowing by 1716 to the modern sense of vexation from disappointment or failure. No reliable recent-generation shift.