Chinese surname · rank 362

皮 is read as .

Pinyin

Script forms

Simplified and traditional 皮

Basic meaning

skin, hide, fur, feather; outer

Five element

Earth

Origin

Time: Western Zhou to Spring and Autumn tradition, 1046-476 BCE

Place: Fan Zhongpi / Piyi fief around Hejin, Shanxi, plus Zheng Zhipi and Jin Zhao Su layers.

Origin note

Pi is treated as a surname from ancestor-name and fief-name traditions, not from the everyday meaning skin or hide. The main Ji-surname layer comes through Fan Zhongpi: sources identify him as a Zhou grandee connected with the Fan line, with descendants using Pi from his name or from Piyi, a fief associated with modern Hejin in Shanxi. A second ancestor-name layer comes from Zheng, where descendants of the minister Zhipi are said to have used Pi from his name. 23mofang also records a Ying-surname line through Zhao Su, whom Jin Xian Gong enfeoffed at Pi. These layers point to separate branches, so this page presents Pi as a convergence of ancestor-name and fief-name sources rather than a single universal founder story.

Historical figures

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