月事

yuè shì

The menses · yue shi

Also rendered: menstruation (Correct as a modern word but loses the monthly affair the text names) · monthly business (Translates the words and reads oddly in English)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yuè shì
Simplified
月事
Literal
月 yuè, month; 事 shì, affair, business. The monthly affair: menstruation. The name itself is worth noticing — the text calls it a monthly business, not a discharge or a sickness. In this chapter its absence is one sign among many in wind water, and it is the last sign explained, because explaining it requires the womb vessel, the heart, and the lung pressing upward.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:事,職也,从史从之省——職事也。**「月」讀 yuè,本篇三見**(月事×2、月中? 非);**「事」讀 shì,本篇三見**。「不」讀 bù;「來」讀 lái;「者」讀 zhě;「胞」讀 bāo;「脉」讀 mài;「閉」讀 bì;「也」讀 yě;「今」讀 jīn;「氣」讀 qì;「上」讀 shàng;「迫」讀 pò;「肺」讀 fèi;「心」讀 xīn;「得」讀 dé;「下」讀 xià;「通」讀 tōng;「故」讀 gù。**「月事」之名,是《素問》以常事視之而非以病視之**:不曰「月水」、不曰「經血」,而曰「月事」——月之職事也。本篇言「月事不來」者三:一在風水諸證之中,二在「月事不來者。胞脉閉也」,三在「故月事不來也」——**三見而後出其因,是本篇釋證之最詳者**。後世婦人調經之說,多以「胞脉閉」與「心氣不得下通」為其祖。

In brief

Menstruation, called here the monthly affair. Its absence is listed among the signs of wind water and is the last of them to be explained: the womb vessel is closed because the qi presses upward on the lung and the heart qi cannot pass downward. The chapter’s explanation is notable for placing the cause above the womb rather than in it.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The monthly affair 月事不來
月之職事,即月經
月事不來 — Suwen 33
2
Listed among the signs 身重難以行,月事不來,煩而不能食
與身重、煩不能食並列為證
月事不來,煩而不能食 — Suwen 33
3
Its cause named 月事不來者。胞脉閉也
胞脉閉故不來
胞脉閉也 — Suwen 33
4
How the closing comes about 今氣上迫肺,心氣不得下通
氣上迫肺而心氣不通
心氣不得下通 — Suwen 33
5
The conclusion 故月事不來也
承上而斷其不來
故月事不來也 — Suwen 33
6
Not a womb disease 胞脉者,屬心而絡於胞中
病在氣機,不在胞
屬心而絡於胞中 — Suwen 33

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
素問·評熱病論 Suwen 33 · 評熱病論 Read in context →
月事不來者。胞脉閉也。 月事不来者。胞脉闭也。
Yuè shì bù lái zhě. Bāo mài bì yě.
The menses do not come: the vessel of the womb is closed. (The base text breaks the sentence after 者; it belongs read as one.)
月事不來之釋。「月」讀 yuè;「事」讀 shì;「不」讀 bù;「來」讀 lái;「者」讀 zhě;「胞」讀 bāo;「脉」讀 mài;「閉」讀 bì;「也」讀 yě。**底本「者」下作句斷(「月事不來者。」),與下文「胞脉閉也」當連讀為一句**——此底本句讀之疏,或傳寫之誤,照錄而注之,與第二十八篇「是寸脉 急」、第三十一篇「其病 兩感」之衍空同例,皆存其故而明其讀法。
素問·腹中論 Suwen 40 · 腹中論 Read in context →
歧伯曰:病名血枯。此得之年少時,有所大脱血,若醉入房中,氣竭肝傷,故月事衰少不來也。 歧伯曰:病名血枯。此得之年少时,有所大脱血,若醉入房中,气竭肝伤,故月事衰少不来也。
Qí bó yuē: bìng míng xuè kū. Cǐ dé zhī nián shào shí, yǒu suǒ dà tuō xuè, ruò zuì rù fáng zhōng, qì jié gān shāng, gù yuè shì shuāi shǎo bù lái yě.
Qi Bo says: the illness is named blood withering. It is got in the years of youth, when there has been a great loss of blood, or when one enters the chamber drunk: the qi is spent and the liver is hurt, and so the monthly affair dwindles and does not come.
**「故月事衰少不來也」,是血枯之驗,亦月事在《素問》中最切病機之一處**。**本篇「月事」1見**;「月」讀 yuè、「事」讀 shì、**各1見、1見**;「衰」讀 shuāi;「少」讀 shǎo,**此一「少」讀 shǎo**(減少也),**本篇「少」4見,惟此一見讀 shǎo,餘三見讀 shào**(年少、少腹、少陽);「不」讀 bù、**本篇11見,惟「可治不」之「不」讀 fǒu**;「來」讀 lái。
素問·上古天真論 Suwen 1 · 上古天真論 Read in context →
歧伯曰:女子七歲,腎氣盛,齒更髮長。二七而天癸至,任脉通,太衝脉盛,月事以時下,故有子。三七腎氣平均,故真牙生而長極。四七筋骨堅,髮長極,身體盛壯。五七陽明脉衰,面始焦,髮始墮。六七三陽脉衰於上。面皆焦。髮始白。七七任脉虛,太衝脉衰少,天癸竭,地道不通,故形壞而無子也。 歧伯曰:女子七岁,肾气盛,齿更发长。二七而天癸至,任脉通,太冲脉盛,月事以时下,故有子。三七肾气平均,故真牙生而长极。四七筋骨坚,发长极,身体盛壮。五七阳明脉衰,面始焦,发始堕。六七三阳脉衰于上。面皆焦。发始白。七七任脉虚,太冲脉衰少,天癸竭,地道不通,故形坏而无子也。
Qí Bó yuē: nǚ zǐ qī suì, shèn qì shèng, chǐ gēng fà zhǎng. èr qī ér tiān guǐ zhì, rèn mài tōng, tài chōng mài shèng, yuè shì yǐ shí xià, gù yǒu zǐ. sān qī shèn qì píng jūn, gù zhēn yá shēng ér cháng jí. sì qī jīn gǔ jiān, fà cháng jí, shēn tǐ shèng zhuàng. wǔ qī yáng míng mài shuāi, miàn shǐ jiāo, fà shǐ duò. liù qī sān yáng mài shuāi yú shàng. miàn jiē jiāo. fà shǐ bái. qī qī rèn mài xū, tài chōng mài shuāi shǎo, tiān guǐ jié, dì dào bù tōng, gù xíng huài ér wú zǐ yě.
Qi Bo said: at seven a girl’s kidney qi is full — the teeth change and the hair grows. At fourteen the heavenly water arrives, the conception vessel opens, the great surge vessel is full, and the menses come down in season, so she can bear children. At twenty-one the kidney qi is even and balanced, so the wisdom teeth come and growth reaches its extreme. At twenty-eight the sinews and bones are firm, the hair has grown to its utmost, and the body is at its fullest strength. At thirty-five the yangming vessel declines, the face begins to sear and the hair begins to fall. At forty-two the three yang vessels decline in the upper part; the face is entirely seared and the hair begins to whiten. At forty-nine the conception vessel is empty, the great surge vessel is decayed and scant, the heavenly water is exhausted and the way of the earth is blocked, so the body is broken down and she can have no children.
「月事以時下」——月事讀 yuè shì;**「月事」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

月事
yuè shì
the menses
本篇三見,風水諸證之一
月事不來
yuè shì bù lái
the menses do not come
本篇三見
胞脉閉
bāo mài bì
the womb vessel is closed
月事不來之因
心氣不得下通
xīn qì bù dé xià tōng
the heart qi cannot pass downward
胞脉閉之由

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & FengmensesThey use the clinical word, which is what 月事 denotes without euphemism.
Unschuldmonthly affairUnschuld keeps the two words of the Chinese, which preserves how neutral the term is.
This sitethe mensesWe use the ordinary word. 月事 is not a disease term here but a monthly function, and the chapter treats its absence as a sign to be explained, not a complaint to be named.

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2026-09

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