Chinese character 鞟

Type kuo in a Mandarin pinyin IME, then choose 鞟.

Some dictionaries print the pinyin form kuò; most input methods accept the unmarked keystrokes kuo. In Wubi, enter afyb; in Cangjie, enter tjyrd.

What does 鞟 mean?

It means animal hide with the hair removed, or leather.

The Analects, a classical collection of sayings and dialogues, compares tiger and leopard hides with dog and goat hides after their hair is gone: 虎豹之鞟，猶犬羊之鞟.

Other classics show how the word works in context. The Huainanzi, a Chinese philosophical text, describes stripping cowhide and preparing it as a drum for directing an army (剝牛皮，鞟以為鼓). An explanatory note to the Shijing, a classical poetry collection, uses it for a hairless leather piece reinforcing a chariot fitting.

Is 鞟 the same as 鞹?

They are distinct written forms recorded for the same word.

Chinese dictionaries record 鞟 as a variant of 鞹. The Shuowen, an early Chinese character dictionary, places the Analects passage under 鞹 rather than giving 鞟 its own headword. Later lexicons cite 鞟 from the Huainanzi and equate it with 鞹.

Lexicons also record wider senses for 鞹: a whole hide dried with its hair still on, and wrapping or binding something in leather as a verb. Those meanings depend on context.