DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIDE AND SKIN

Hide seems to include large and less pliable.


Skin
1. the external covering or integument of an animal body, esp. when soft and flexible.
2. such an integument stripped from the body of an animal, esp. a small animal; pelt: a beaver skin.
3. the tanned or treated pelt or hide of an animal, esp. when used in apparel and accessories; leather (usually used in combination): pigskin; calfskin.

Hide
1. the pelt or skin of one of the larger animals (cow, horse, buffalo, etc.), raw or dressed.

leather is treated and finished off. it is more smooth and has a glossier finish usually. hide is usually raw and does not have a finish to it. hide,
such as the backside of an animal rug would be an example

my sense is that the difference is that hides are thicker: cowhide, snakeskin.


This thread may already be settled, but I just ran across the same problem
and found some good concrete info. Skin if preferable in contexts outside
of hunting, tanning and the like -- hide implies these uses to an extent.
However, as the previous poster said, within the contexts of processing
animal skin, hide often refers to the skin of larger animals (which is
thicker) and skin refers to smaller ones (thin).

on the online getty art and architecture thesaurus, you can find an
extremely comprehensive list of materials with brief descriptions:

Hide (collagenous material): Note: Integument of a large animal such as a
cow or buffalo separated from the body with or without hair, whether green,
 dry, tanned, or dressed. For the integument of a small animal, use "skin." For tanned hide, use "leather."

Skin (collagenous material): Note: Integument of animals such as sheep,
calves, or goats, separated from the body, with or without hair, whether
green, dry, tanned, or dressed. For the integument of large animals use
"hide." For tanned skin, use "leather." For dried and stretched skin, use
"parchment" or "vellum."


A distinction is made among skins, hides, and pigskin. Skins come from
calves, foals, sheep, goats, and other small animals
(young camels and seals). Hides are the skins of cattle, horses, donkeys,
 camels, deer, elk, walruses, and whales. Pigskin raw materials are the
skins of domestic and wild swine. In addition to these most important
types of leather raw materials, the skins of reptiles (crocodiles, lizards,
 and snakes) and fish (wolf-fish, cod, burbot, sheatfish, dog salmon, giant
 sturgeon, and shark) are also used.