Meaning & readings

pelt, skin, hide, leather, skin radical (no. 107)

On’yomi
Kun’yomi かわ

Origin

This character is a simple picture of skin or hide. The strokes represent the layers and surface texture of an animal pelt or human skin, drawn in a way that early Chinese writers recognized as depicting something flexible and covering. Over time, the pictorial shape became more abstract and standardized into the form we see today, but it still carries the meaning of skin, leather, or hide because of its visual origin.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

5 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (皮).

Common words

Reference

Strokes
5
Kangxi radical
107
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1092 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+076AE