Explore 皮 through skin, peel and fur. Connect each reading to a complete word and a useful context.

The idea

皮 has 5 strokes; follow the linked stroke-order diagram. Read 皮（かわ）, 皮膚（ひふ）, 皮膚科（ひふか） and 毛皮（けがわ） as whole words. The table puts each reading in context.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingExample in context
皮かわI peeled the apple.
皮膚ひふMy skin is dry.
皮膚科ひふかI went to a dermatologist.
毛皮けがわThe cat’s fur is soft.

Examples

  • りんごの皮かわをむきました。I peeled the apple.
  • このかばんには牛うしの皮かわを使つかっています。This bag uses cowhide.
  • 皮膚ひふが乾燥かんそうしています。My skin is dry.
  • 皮膚科ひふかの医者いしゃに行いきました。I went to a dermatologist.
  • 猫ねこの毛皮けがわは柔やわらかいです。The cat’s fur is soft.
  • オレンジの皮かわはいい香かおりがします。The orange peel smells good.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

皮 can mean animal skin or fruit peel; 皮膚 specifically means skin of the body. In 毛皮, かわ becomes がわ. Do not confuse 皮 with 波, which adds the water component.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 皮 in hiragana.

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    かわ

    皮 is read かわ: りんごの皮 means apple peel. Learn the reading with the word.

  2. Write the reading of 皮膚 in hiragana.

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    ひふ

    皮膚 is read ひふ and means bodily skin, as in the sentence about dry skin.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: 毛＿（けがわ）［皮／波］.

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    皮

    皮 completes 毛皮（けがわ）, fur. The reading changes from かわ to がわ in this compound.

Use it today

Write 皮 using the stroke-order diagram. Cover the table, read 皮 and 皮膚, and make a sentence with one of them.