pí​chǐ

tape measure

skin

Pictograph of a hand () peeling off the skin from an animal.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an animal with its skin being peeled off.

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjem-[p](r)aj skin

說文解字

《說文》:“皮,剝取獸革者謂之皮。从又,為省聲。,古文皮。,籀文皮。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

chǐ traditional Chinese unit of length ~ 1 foot

Origin unclear. Possibly a pictograph of a side view of a person with a mark on their leg indicating the length of one foot.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyhektʰAk foot (measure)

說文解字

《說文》:“尺,十寸也。人手卻十分動脈為寸口。十寸為尺。尺,所以指尺榘事也。从尸,从乙,乙所識也。周制寸、尺、咫、尋、常、仞諸度量,皆以人之體為法。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica