The skin of the cubit · chi zhi pi fu

Also rendered: The skin of the cubit (literal, and it names the region exactly) · The cubit skin (compact, and it is the later technical term)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: chǐ zhī pí fū
Simplified: 尺之皮肤
Literal: 尺 chǐ — the cubit, the forearm from wrist to elbow; 皮膚 pí fū — skin and flesh. The third of the three things that must agree, beside colour and pulse.
Shuowen: 《說文》：尺，十寸也；皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮；膚，皮也。「尺之皮膚」本篇6見，六脉各一，文句一律。「尺」字8見：尺之皮膚六、善調尺者一、尺脉之尺一。

In brief

The skin of the forearm, felt as a third witness beside the colour of the face and the movement of the pulse. The chapter pairs them one by one: an urgent pulse and the skin is urgent, a slow pulse and the skin is slow, a small pulse and the skin is reduced, a large pulse and the skin rises, slippery with slippery, rough with rough. Then the rule that makes the region worth examining: 善調尺者，不待於寸 — one who is good at the cubit need not wait for the inch. The passage is the earliest systematic statement of what later needling called 尺膚診, and its logic is the same as the drumstick’s: the inside and the outside are one event.

Senses in the classical corpus

The region 尺之皮膚

前臂尺部之皮膚

The skin of the cubit region.

脉急者，尺之皮膚亦急 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

The six pairs 亦急

脉有六變，尺膚亦六應

Six pulse qualities, six matching skins.

脉急者，尺之皮膚亦急 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

The rule 善調尺者，不待於寸

精於尺者不必再候寸口

One good at the cubit need not wait for the inch.

故善調尺者，不待於寸 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

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1 passages

靈樞·邪氣藏府病形 Read in context →

黃帝曰：調之奈何？歧伯答曰：脉急者，尺之皮膚亦急；脉緩者，尺之皮膚亦緩；脉小者，尺之皮膚亦減而少氣；脉大者，尺之皮膚亦賁而起；脉滑者，尺之皮膚亦滑；脉濇者，尺之皮膚亦濇。凡此變者，有微有甚。故善調尺者，不待於寸；善調脉者，不待於色。能參合而行之者，可以爲上工，上工十全九；行二者，爲中工，中工十全七；行一者，爲下工，下工十全六。黄帝曰：调之奈何？歧伯答曰：脉急者，尺之皮肤亦急；脉缓者，尺之皮肤亦缓；脉小者，尺之皮肤亦减而少气；脉大者，尺之皮肤亦贲而起；脉滑者，尺之皮肤亦滑；脉涩者，尺之皮肤亦涩。凡此变者，有微有甚。故善调尺者，不待于寸；善调脉者，不待于色。能参合而行之者，可以为上工，上工十全九；行二者，为中工，中工十全七；行一者，为下工，下工十全六。

Huáng Dì yuē: tiáo zhī nài hé? Qí Bó dá yuē: mài jí zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì jí; mài huǎn zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì huǎn; mài xiǎo zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì jiǎn ér shǎo qì; mài dà zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì bēn ér qǐ; mài huá zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì huá; mài sè zhě, chǐ zhī pí fū yì sè. fán cǐ biàn zhě, yǒu wēi yǒu shèn. gù shàn tiáo chǐ zhě, bù dài yú cùn; shàn tiáo mài zhě, bù dài yú sè. néng cān hé ér xíng zhī zhě, kě yǐ wéi shàng gōng, shàng gōng shí quán jiǔ; xíng èr zhě, wéi zhōng gōng, zhōng gōng shí quán qī; xíng yī zhě, wéi xià gōng, xià gōng shí quán liù.

Huang Di said: How is it examined? Qi Bo answered: When the pulse is urgent the skin of the cubit is urgent too; when the pulse is slow the skin of the cubit is slow too; when the pulse is small the skin of the cubit is reduced and short of qi; when the pulse is large the skin of the cubit rises up; when the pulse is slippery the skin of the cubit is slippery too; when the pulse is rough the skin of the cubit is rough too. Of all these changes some are slight and some extreme. Therefore one who is good at examining the cubit need not wait for the inch, and one who is good at examining the pulse need not wait for the colour. One who can combine them and practise them can be an upper workman, and the upper workman makes whole nine in ten; one who practises two is a middle workman, and the middle workman makes whole seven in ten; one who practises one is a lower workman, and the lower workman makes whole six in ten.

「尺之皮膚」本篇6見，六脉各一，句法全同，唯「減而少氣」「賁而起」二處加二字。「尺」字8見，此段居六，餘為「善調尺者」與「尺寸」。

Compounds built on this term

尺膚

chǐ fū

the skin of the cubit

後世通名

尺

chǐ

the cubit

脉位名

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	the skin of the cubit	the chapter writes 尺之皮膚 and so does the site
Literal	the skin of the foot-rule	exact to 尺, and wrong in anatomy
Clinical	the forearm skin sign	clear, and it adds a word the text lacks

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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