Chagrin may be connected to shagreen leather — the rough shark skin that 'rubs you the wrong way,' linking a tactile irritation to emotional mortification.
A feeling of distress or humiliation caused by failure, disappointment, or embarrassment. Also used as a verb meaning to cause such a feeling.
From French chagrin (grief, sorrow, vexation), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old French chagraigner (to become gloomy), perhaps from a Germanic source related to Old High German gram (angry, hostile), or from a Turkish-derived word for rough leather (shagreen/sagri) Key roots: chagrin (French: "grief, vexation (uncertain deeper origin)").
Chagrin has a mysterious double identity. The emotional word (distress, humiliation) and the material shagreen (rough untanned leather, often from shark or ray skin) may or may not be related. The leather word comes from Turkish sağrı (the rump of a horse), and some etymologists think the rough, irritating quality of the leather — like sandpaper — influenced the emotional meaning: chagrin is a feeling that 'rubs you the wrong way.' Voltaire used chagrin frequently in his writings