皮 means “skin, peel, hide”

かわ · kawa

Also: pelt, leather

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

かわ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ヒ

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 3 · 5 strokes

The story

A hand (又) peeling back a flap of hide: 皮 began as a picture of skinning an animal. It is any outer layer: the peel of a fruit, the 毛皮 of a fur coat, and 皮肉, skin and flesh, which means sarcasm.

Used in 皮 (kawa, skin/peel), 皮膚 (hifu, skin), and 皮肉 (hiniku, sarcasm/irony)

More from The Human Body

• 胸 chest
• 腕 arm
• 毛 hair
• 肩 shoulder
• 腰 lower back
• 涙 tears
• 汗 sweat
• 肌 skin
• 胃 stomach
• 膚 skin
• 脳 brain
• 臓 internal organ

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.