Classica Sinica Medica

皮𩩻

pí tū

Pi Tu · pi tu

Also rendered: Pi Tu (this site; the base graph kept and read tū, with kuò and téng recorded beside it and none of them adopted) · Pi Kuò; Pi Téng (what the 新校正 and a modern study respectively take the graph to have been; both require emending a text the base does not emend)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-02

At a glance

Pinyin
pí tū
Simplified
皮𩩻
Literal
皮 pí — the skin, the surface: 《說文》 gives 皮 as 剝取獸革者謂之皮, what is stripped from a beast, and the living surface of the body takes its name from that stripping. The second graph is the difficulty. It is 骨 with 盾, and the old rhyme-books do not have it: the Song editors of the 新校正 say as much, 遍尋篇韻中無此字, and took the text to have 䯏, 骨端, read kuò; the 熊音 glossed it 徒骨切, taking it for 腯, fat, read tū; a modern study in 《中医文献杂志》 reads it téng and takes the phrase for the thick flesh below the navel. This site keeps the base graph and reads it tū, and records the other two.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：「皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮」；「骨，肉之覈也」；「盾，瞂也」。「皮」讀 pí、**本篇3見**；「𩩻」讀 tū、**骨旁从盾之字，本篇1見，讀 tū，同「腯」；一說當作「䯏」讀 kuò，一說讀 téng**；「少」讀 shào、**「少腹」讀 shào fù，本篇4見**；「腹」讀 fù、**本篇7見**；「積」讀 jī、**「有積」之積讀 jī，本篇1見**；「下」讀 xià、**「以下」之本篇2見**；「脊」讀 jǐ、**「俠脊」之脊，本篇1見**；「俠」讀 xié、**「俠脊」之俠讀 xié，通「挾」，本篇1見**；「傍」讀 bàng、**「兩傍」之傍讀 bàng，本篇2見**；「椎」讀 zhuī、**「四椎」之椎讀 zhuī，本篇1見**；「間」讀 jiān、**「椎間」之間讀 jiān，本篇5見**；「髂」讀 qià、**「兩髂」之髂讀 qià，本篇1見**；「髎」讀 liáo、**「髂髎」之髎讀 liáo，本篇1見**；「脅」讀 xié、**「季脅」之脅，本篇1見**；「肋」讀 lèi、**「肋間」之肋讀 lèi，本篇1見**；「導」讀 dǎo、**「導腹中氣」之導讀 dǎo，本篇1見**；「刺」讀 cì、**本篇26見，皆讀 cì**

In brief

A landmark below the navel, and the one place in this chapter where the text stops to say where a needle should start. 病在少腹有積，刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止 — with a gathering in the lesser abdomen, needle from below the 皮𩩻 down as far as the lesser abdomen, and stop there. Wang Bing fixes the spot: 臍下同身寸之五寸橫約文, the crease five inches below the navel, and warns on the same breath that one must not go deep there. What the graph meant is contested and always has been; what the sentence asks for is not — a starting point on the surface, measured downward.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 皮𩩻
皮者身之表（《說文》「剝取獸革者謂之皮」）；𩩻者骨旁从盾之字，韻書所無，此从底本，讀 tū
刺皮𩩻以下 — Suwen 55
2
Where it is 刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止
王冰注「臍下同身寸之五寸橫約文」；自其下取穴，至少腹而止
刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止 — Suwen 55
3
What the three readings are 讀 tū；一讀 kuò；一讀 téng
《釋音》《新校正》以為當作「䯏」讀 kuò（骨端）；《熊音》徒骨切、《素問直解》與《中醫大詞典》讀 tū（同腯，肥厚）；近人考讀 téng。此从 tū
刺皮𩩻以下 — Suwen 55
4
Why the warning follows 審刺而勿過深之
王冰引《刺禁論》「刺少腹，中膀胱，溺出，令人少腹滿」，故不可深
刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止 — Suwen 55
5
The needling that goes with it 刺俠脊兩傍四椎間
既刺其前，復刺其後；王冰疑「四椎」當云五椎，以五椎之下兩傍正心之俞
刺俠脊兩傍四椎間 — Suwen 55
6
What the whole entry is for 導腹中氣熱下已
刺前刺後，皆所以導腹中之熱氣下行而病已
導腹中氣熱下已 — Suwen 55

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
Suwen 55 Suwen 55 · 長刺節論 Read in context →
病在少腹有積，刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止，刺俠脊兩傍四椎間，刺兩髂髎季脅肋間，導腹中氣熱下已。 病在少腹有积，刺皮𩩻以下，至少腹而止，刺侠脊两傍四椎间，刺两髂髎季胁肋间，导腹中气热下已。
Bìng zài shào fù yǒu jī, cì pí tū yǐ xià, zhì shào fù ér zhǐ, cì xié jǐ liǎng bàng sì zhuī jiān, cì liǎng qià liáo jì xié lèi jiān, dǎo fù zhōng qì rè xià yǐ.
Where there is a gathering in the lesser abdomen, needle from below the 皮𩩻 — the crease five inches below the navel — down as far as the lesser abdomen, and stop there; needle too between the fourth vertebra on either side of the spine, and the liáo points over the two haunch bones in the space of the short ribs, leading the qi and heat within the abdomen downward until the trouble is done.
**「皮𩩻」本篇1見——「皮」讀 pí、**本篇3見**；「𩩻」讀 tū、**本篇1見，讀 tū**；「少」讀 shào、**「少腹」讀 shào fù，本篇4見**；「腹」讀 fù、**本篇7見**；「積」讀 jī、**本篇1見**；「俠」讀 xié、**「俠脊」讀 xié jǐ，本篇1見**；「傍」讀 bàng、**本篇2見**；「椎」讀 zhuī、**本篇1見**；「髂」讀 qià、**本篇1見**；「髎」讀 liáo、**本篇1見**；「脅」讀 xié、**本篇1見**；「肋」讀 lèi、**本篇1見**；「導」讀 dǎo、**本篇1見**；**刺前刺後，皆所以導腹中熱氣下行**

Compounds built on this term

皮𩩻
pí tū
the pi-tu below the navel
本篇一見（刺皮𩩻以下）
少腹
shào fù
the lesser abdomen
本篇四見，此證所在之地
俠脊
xié jǐ
alongside the spine
本篇一見（刺俠脊兩傍四椎間）
兩髂髎
liǎng qià liáo
the liáo points over the haunch bones
本篇一見，與皮𩩻同屬此證取穴之處

How it has been translated

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

This sitepi tuthe crease five inches below the navel as Wang Bing places it, read tū, and left as the base writes it
Song editorial reading皮䯏 pí kuòtaken for the end of the bone below the navel, on the ground that no rhyme-book has the graph the text carries
Modern editions皮𩩻 pí tūusually printed with the difficult graph and glossed from 《中医大词典》 as the thick flesh below the navel; some print 皮腯 outright, which quietly settles the question the text does not

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-02

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Reading path

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