皮 (pí) is a Chinese character meaning “skin”. It is written from ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke) and 又 (again), and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “skin”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇐ + ㇒ + ㇑ + 又
Overlapping structure
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇑ vertical stroke unknown
- 又 again · yòu unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+76AE and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (five strokes: 横 / 撇 / 竖 / 又的横撇 + 捺)
Memory aid
A hand (又) works at the bottom right while a long left-falling stroke (㇒) sweeps down the side: the hand peels the covering off, and the horizontal (㇐) with the vertical (㇑) poking above it is the edge being lifted. What comes off is 皮 — skin, hide, the outer layer.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 皮肤pí fūskin皮 = pí
- 皮鞋pí xiéleather shoes皮 = pí
- 肚皮dù píbelly; abdomen皮 = pí
- 削皮xiāo píto peel (with a knife)皮 = pí
- 剥皮bāo píto peel; to skin皮 = pí
- 皮带pí dàileather belt皮 = pí
- 皮袄pí ǎofur-lined jacket皮 = pí
- 皮革pí géleather; hide皮 = pí
- 顽皮wán pínaughty; mischievous皮 = pí
- 鸡皮疙瘩jī pí gē dagoose bumps皮 = pí
Go deeper
All readings
skin
skin; hide; leather; the outer layer or covering of something
人或动植物体表的一层组织；也指皮革，或包在外面的一层东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 皮肤pí fūskin皮 = pí
- 皮鞋pí xiéleather shoes皮 = pí
- 肚皮dù píbelly; abdomen皮 = pí
- 削皮xiāo píto peel (with a knife)皮 = pí
- 剥皮bāo píto peel; to skin皮 = pí
- 皮带pí dàileather belt皮 = pí
- 皮袄pí ǎofur-lined jacket皮 = pí
- 皮革pí géleather; hide皮 = pí
- 顽皮wán pínaughty; mischievous皮 = pí
- 鸡皮疙瘩jī pí gē dagoose bumps皮 = pí
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 皮 mean?
皮 (pí) means skin; hide; leather; the outer layer or covering of something.
How do you pronounce 皮?
It is pronounced pí.
What parts is 皮 made of?
㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke) and 又 (again). The recorded source is: Unicode U+76AE and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (five strokes: 横 / 撇 / 竖 / 又的横撇 + 捺). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 皮 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 皮?
皮. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 皮?
Common ones are 皮肤 and 皮鞋. The reading of 皮 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.