皮 (pí): leather, skin, fur

皮 (pí) is a Chinese character meaning “leather.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 攴 (structural). It ranks #741 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 皮 a hand using a tool 攴 to strip the hide from a carcass. Its radical form 皮 (skin) appears in many related characters such as 皱 (zhòu, to wrinkle).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. leather
  2. skin
  3. fur

Etymology & Origin

皮

pictographicA hand using a tool 攴 to strip the hide from a carcass

Components:攴structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 皮 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 皮

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
皮肤nounpí fūskin4
调皮adjectivetiáo pínaughty5
皮鞋nounpí xiéleather shoes4
橡皮nounxiàng pírubber5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
皮带nounpí dàistrap
眼皮yǎn píeyelid
皮包nounpí bāohandbag
嬉皮士nounxī pí shìhippie (loanword)
鸡皮疙瘩nounjī pí gē dagoose pimples
皮革nounpí géleather
头皮tóu píscalp
皮夹nounpí jiāwallet
皮疹nounpí zhěna rash
肚皮noundù píbelly
包皮nounbāo píwrapping
毛皮nounmáo pífur
皮毛nounpí máofur
皮衣nounpí yīleather jacket or coat
表皮nounbiǎo píepidermis
107
Total compounds
40
As first character
57
As last character
3
As middle character

皮 appears in 107 compound words: 40 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 3 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 皮 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

肤fū
0.73012,899 co-occurrences
俏qiào
0.5211,160 co-occurrences
橡xiàng
0.5133,228 co-occurrences
瘩da
0.483277 co-occurrences
嬉xī
0.483760 co-occurrences
疙gē
0.481277 co-occurrences
酥sū
0.468622 co-occurrences
艇tǐng
0.4665,012 co-occurrences
乃nǎi
0.46310 co-occurrences
尔ěr
0.46224,834 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

调皮捣蛋tiáo pí dǎo dànHSK 7+

naughty; mischievous; to act up

phrase
仿羊皮纸fǎng yáng pí zhǐHSK 5+

imitation parchment

phrase
狗皮膏药gǒu pí gāo yaoHSK 4+

dogskin plaster, used in TCM for treating contusions, rheumatism etc; quack medicine; sham goods

phrase
鸡毛蒜皮jīmáosuànpíHSK 7+

trivial matters

phrase
鸡皮疙瘩jīpí gēdaHSK 7+

goosebumps

noun
棘皮动物jípí dòngwùHSK 7+

echinoderm

noun
略知皮毛lüè zhī pí máoHSK 6+

slight knowledge of sth; superficial acquaintance with a subject; a smattering

phrase
皮开肉绽píkāiròuzhànHSK 7+

to have one's skin torn and cracked as a result of being badly beaten

phrase
皮诺切特PínuòqiètèHSK 6+

a transliteration of the Spanish surname Pinochet

皮下注射pí xià zhù shèHSK 6+

hypodermic injection; subcutaneous injection

phrase
耍嘴皮子shuǎ zuǐpíziHSK 7+

to be a smooth talker; to be a slick talker; to be all talk and no action

verb
死皮赖脸sǐpílàiliǎnHSK 6+

brazen and unreasonable; thick-skinned and hard to shake off

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing 皮.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好皮字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo pí zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "皮" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...吃砂糖橘吃成贵州本地人?真相揭秘:这种黄皮肤要警惕!

. . . chī shā táng jú chī chéng guì zhōu běn dì rén ? zhēn xiāng jiē mì : zhè zhǒng huáng pí fū yāo jǐng tì !

... Eat sugar oranges and become a native of Guizhou? The truth is revealed: be wary of this yellow skin!

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩能预防包皮垢吗?减少尿液残留降低刺激吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi néng yù fáng bāo pí 垢 ma ? jiǎn shǎo niào yè cán liú jiàng dī cì jī ma

Can a boy's shook after urinating prevent smegma? Reduces urine residue and reduces irritation

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩会不会伤到龟头?包皮过长者更需小心吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi huì bù huì shāng dào guī tóu ? bāo pí guò cháng zhě gēng xū xiǎo xīn ma

Will a boy hurt the glans after urinating? Do you need to be more careful if the foreskin is too long?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...“小五郎”前肢伤口深难痊愈 专业兽医移植皮肤手术终康复

. . . xiǎo wǔ láng qián zhī shāng kǒu shēn nán 痊 yù zhuān yè shòu yī yí zhí pí fū shǒu shù zhōng kāng fù

"Kogoro" forelimb wounds are difficult to heal, and professional veterinarians finally recover from skin transplant surgery

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

故障频出 黄金海岸大学停用头皮冷却设备

gù zhàng pín chū huáng jīn hǎi àn dà xué tíng yòng tóu pí lěng què shè bèi

Frequent breakdowns Gold Coast University stops scalp cooling equipment

Tatoeba

你又皮发痒了,找抽,是吧?

Nǐ yòu pí fāyǎng le, zhǎochōu, shì ba?

You just can't stand still, huh? What are you, looking for a fight?

Tatoeba

再惹我生气,小心我扒了你的皮!

Zài rě wǒ shēngqì, xiǎoxīn wǒ bā le nǐ de pí!

Anger me again, I might just peel your skin off.

Tatoeba

这靴是用皮革做的。

Zhè xuē shì yòng pígé zuò de.

These boots are made of leather.

Tatoeba

她瘦得只剩皮包骨了。

Tā shòu de zhǐ shèng píbāo gǔ le.

She is all skin and bone.

Character Family

皮 Radical Family — Characters sharing the skin radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced pí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 皮 (pí) mean in Chinese?
皮 (pí) primarily means "leather." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #741 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 皮 have?
皮 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 皮?
The radical associated with 皮 is 皮 (skin). This radical appears in many characters related to skin.
What are the components of 皮?
皮 is composed of: 攴 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 皮?
Common words with 皮 include: 皮肤 (pí fū, "skin"); 皮带 (pí dài, "strap"); 眼皮 (yǎn pí, "eyelid"); 皮包 (pí bāo, "handbag"); 嬉皮士 (xī pí shì, "hippie (loanword)"). There are over 107 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 皮 (pí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pí: 批 (to ascertain), 疲 (tired), 匹 ((bound form) matching), 披 (to drape over one's shoulders), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 皮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 皮 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 皮 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.