shagreen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a tough leather with a granular surface, historically made from horsehide and now commonly from shark or ray skin

   The antique case was covered in pale green shagreen.

2. 2
   noun

   the naturally rough skin of a shark or ray, or a similarly fine-grained rough surface in zoological description

   The beetle's femur had a surface resembling shagreen under magnification.

3. 3
   adj

   made of, covered with, or textured like shagreen

   The cabinet had shagreen panels framed in dark wood.

Through French chagrin or sagrin from Ottoman Turkish sagri, 'the rump or hide of a horse.' The English form was influenced by the unrelated word green. Naturalists extended the leather's name to similarly rough, finely granulated surfaces.

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