noun
poor results; bad grade; failure mark
Refers to a poor evaluation or result, often in academic or testing contexts. Can be used metaphorically for any unsatisfactory outcome.
今回のテストは不印だった。
I got a poor result on this test.
彼の提案は会議で不印をもらった。
His proposal received a poor evaluation at the meeting.
Compound of 不 (fu, 'not, un-') and 印 (shirushi, 'mark, sign'), literally 'bad mark'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it follows a common pattern of forming nouns with 不 to indicate a negative evaluation.