膚

Phono-semantic compound:

肉 (고기 육, “flesh, meat”) — semantic, indicating the body or flesh.

𧆨 (술독 로, variant phonetic element) — phonetic, providing the sound 부.

Although graphically it looks like 虍 (호랑이 무늬 호) + 胃 (밥통 위), in origin it is a simplified form of a phonetic-ideographic compound where 肉 indicates flesh and the phonetic element gives the reading.

피부 (皮膚) — skin

살갗 (膚) — outer layer of the body

표피 (表皮) — epidermis, outer skin

피상(皮相) / 피상적 (皮膚的) — superficial, shallow

In classical texts, 膚 referred literally to the skin covering the flesh, in contrast with 骨 (뼈 골, “bones”).

By metaphorical extension, it came to mean the outward, surface level of something, hence phrases like 膚淺 (부전, “shallow, superficial”).

In medical writings (e.g., traditional East Asian medicine), 膚 is used to describe conditions of the skin and external symptoms.