shagreen means an untanned leather, often dyed green; originally made from horse skin, today mostly made from the skin of a shark or ray. It carries an Arena rating of 1487, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, shagreen ranks #1,008 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,898 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,060 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,656 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
shagreen is pronounced /ʃəˈɡɹiːn/.
Why “shagreen” is a great word
An untanned leather with a distinctive granular, pebbled surface, historically dyed green and made from the rump skin of horses but now commonly produced from the skins of sharks or rays. From French 'chagrin' (rough skin), itself from Ottoman Turkish 'صاغری' (sağrı, 'rump, crupper'), via folk etymology association with the English words 'shag' and 'green'; first attested in English c. 1677. Unlike 'morocco,' a soft, fine goatskin for elegant bindings, or 'suede,' with its buffed, velvety nap, shagreen is defined by its hard, stubbornly textured grain. It is the cool, rasping grip of an eighteenth-century dagger’s hilt, the dusty, jewel-like green of a faded specimen case, the stubborn topography of a creature’s hide preserved in artifact—a tangible memory of roughness transformed by human hands into a thing of utility and strange beauty.
Etymology
First use appears c. 1677, an Anglicized form of chagrin, from French chagrin, from Ottoman Turkish صاغری (modern Turkish sağrı). However, the etymology of French chagrin is complex and disputed, and likely of Germanic origin. Whether there was any influence between an existing French word of Germanic origin and a Turkish loan is unclear.
noun
- An untanned leather, often dyed green; originally made from horse skin, today mostly made from the skin of a shark or ray.
- A rough or spiny surface of an insect's cuticle.e.g.“If the shagreen dots be carefully observed they will be found to possess an annular arrangement.” — 1883 November 7, Edward B. Poulton, “Notes upon, or suggested hy, the colours, markings, and protective attitudes of certain lepidopterous larvæ and pupæ, and of a phytophagous hymenopterous larva”, i
verb
- To give a texture resembling shagreen leather.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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