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脸皮 (liǎn pí) — (literal) skin of the face; cheek; (metaphorical) sense of shame; thickness/thinness of one's skin in 脸皮厚/脸皮薄

Definition

脸皮 is metaphorical "skin" — one's capacity for shame, used almost only in the set phrases 脸皮厚 ("thick-skinned") and 脸皮薄 ("thin-skinned"). Don't read it literally as 脸 ("face").

noun
(literal) skin of the facecheek(metaphorical) sense of shamethickness/thinness of one's skin in 脸皮厚/脸皮薄
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 脸皮，。
    Tā liǎn pí zhēn hòu, bié rén zěn me shuō tā dōu bú zài hu.
    He's really thick-skinned — he doesn't care what others say about him.
  • 脸皮，。
    Tā liǎn pí báo, nǐ shuō huà bié tài zhí jiē.
    She's thin-skinned, so don't be too direct when you talk to her.
  • ？。
    Nǐ zěn me zhè me bú yào liǎn pí? dāng zhòng sā huǎng yě bù liǎn hóng.
    How can you have no shame? Lying in public without even blushing.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

脸liǎnface
皮pískin

脸 means face and 皮 means skin, so the meaning is the skin of the face or cheek.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臉; 脸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺼Written in full as肉ròubody part
Sound part声符shēngfú
僉
僉qiān臉liǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 臉 combines ⺼ (肉, body part) with 僉 as a sound part; the simplified 脸 is a later abbreviation.

Open 脸 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Open 皮 →
Appears in
Body Parts

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