Meaning of 皮
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- skin; peel; rind; outer layer
- leather; hide; fur
- cover; wrapping; outer covering
- (of food) no longer crisp; soggy
- (coll.) naughty; mischievous
- pico- (10⁻¹²)
- surname Pi
How to use 皮
皮 (pí) covers any outer layer: human skin, fruit peel, leather, even dumpling wrappers. It appears in many common words like 皮肤 (pífū) skin and 皮鞋 (píxié) leather shoes. Example: 苹果皮可以吃。(Píngguǒ pí kěyǐ chī.) Apple peel is edible.
Picture the hook at the top left as a hanging animal hide, with 又 (yòu), a hand, at the bottom pulling the skin away. A hand peeling off an outer layer gives you 皮 (pí), skin.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 皮 (pí) with 披 (pī, to drape over) and 被 (bèi, quilt or passive marker), which both contain 皮 as a sound part. Also keep the second tone in 皮 and do not drop it to a neutral tone in 皮肤.
皮 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
皮 pí · skin · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 皮.
Questions about 皮
What does 皮 mean?
皮 (pí) means "skin; peel; rind; outer layer; leather; hide; fur" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 皮?
皮 is made of 1 character: 皮 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 皮 an HSK word?
Yes. 皮 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 皮 mean naughty?
In everyday speech, saying a child is 皮 (pí) means they are mischievous, as in 这孩子真皮 (zhè háizi zhēn pí). The longer words 调皮 (tiáopí) and 顽皮 (wánpí) carry the same meaning.
Can 皮 describe food texture?
Yes. Colloquially, crunchy food that has gone soft or soggy can be called 皮了 (pí le), for example peanuts or crackers left out too long.