涌水

yǒng shuǐ

Gushing water · yong shui

Also rendered: Gushing water (this site; literal, and keeps the movement in view) · Upwelling water (closer to 說文's 滕; less natural in English than gushing)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: yǒng shuǐ
Simplified: 涌水
Literal: 涌水 yǒng shuǐ — water that gushes. 涌 is water welling up, the graph built on the water radical; the base text writes 涌 , not 湧 . The chapter's description is one of the most concrete passages in the whole book: press the belly and it is not hard, water qi has lodged in the large intestine, and when the patient walks fast the belly sounds like a bag of watery pulp sloshing. The name comes from the sound and the movement, not from the swelling — which is precisely why the chapter adds that the belly is soft.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：涌，滕也——**「滕」者，水超湧也**，**本義為水上湧**；**本篇「涌水」之水在腸而不在腹，故按之不堅**。「涌」讀 yǒng，本篇2見，**不作「湧」（「湧」）**；「水」讀 shuǐ，本篇4見。

In brief

An illness of water: the belly is soft to the touch, water qi has lodged in the large intestine, and walking fast makes it slosh audibly. The fifth and last of the cold transmissions, from lung into kidney.

Senses in the classical corpus

What the graphs say 涌水

涌，滕也，水上湧

肺移寒於腎，爲涌水 — Suwen 37

Where the water is 涌水

水氣客於大腸，不在腹，故按腹不堅

涌水者，按腹不堅 — Suwen 37

How it sounds 涌水

疾行則鳴，濯濯如囊裹漿

濯濯如囊裹漿 — Suwen 37

The base-text graph 涌

，不作湧

爲涌水 — Suwen 37

An illness of water, named as such 水之病也

篇中自斷其類

水之病也 — Suwen 37

As the close of the cold series 涌水

寒移五變之末，復歸於腎，與首變相銜

肺移寒於腎 — Suwen 37

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

1 passages

Suwen 37 Suwen 37 · 氣厥論 Read in context →

肺移寒於腎，爲涌水，涌水者，按腹不堅，水氣客於大腸，疾行則鳴，濯濯如囊裹漿，水之病也。肺移寒于肾，为涌水，涌水者，按腹不坚，水气客于大肠，疾行则鸣，濯濯如囊裹浆，水之病也。

Fèi yí hán yú shèn, wéi yǒng shuǐ, yǒng shuǐ zhě, àn fù bù jiān, shuǐ qì kè yú dà cháng, jí xíng zé míng, zhuó zhuó rú náng guǒ jiāng, shuǐ zhī bìng yě.

When the lung shifts cold into the kidney, it becomes gushing water. In gushing water the belly is not hard when pressed: water qi has lodged in the large intestine, and walking fast makes it rumble — a sloshing sound, like a bag holding watery pulp. It is an illness of water.

**「肺移寒於腎，爲涌水，涌水者，按腹不堅，水氣客於大腸，疾行則鳴，濯濯如囊裹漿，水之病也」三十三字，是《素問》言水病最生動之一節**。**「按腹不堅」四字先破水脹之疑**——**水若在腹則按之堅，今不堅，故知其在腸**；**「疾行則鳴」繼之以動**，**「濯濯如囊裹漿」終之以聲**，**診、動、聲三者次第而來，而「水之病也」四字自斷其類**。**「客」「客」讀 kè者，寄居也**——**與第三十四篇「此水氣之客也」同字同義**。**「裹」「裹」讀 guǒ者，包也**——**不作「裡」「里」**；**「漿」「漿」讀 jiāng，不作「浆」**。**此為寒移五變之末變，復歸於腎**，**與首變「腎移寒於肝」首尾相銜，成一環**。

Compounds built on this term

水氣

shuǐ qì

water qi

本篇「水氣客於大腸」；本站第三十四篇「此水氣之客也」同義

按腹不堅

àn fù bù jiān

the belly is not hard when pressed

本篇腹診之語，水在腸而不在腹之徵

濯濯

zhuó zhuó

the sound of sloshing water

本篇疊用之狀聲詞

囊裹漿

náng guǒ jiāng

a bag holding watery pulp

本篇比況之語，為《素問》最妙之比況之一

How it has been translated

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

This site	gushing water	the name is about movement and sound, not swelling; the chapter says so itself by noting that the belly is soft
Unschuld	gushing water	the same rendering
Wiseman	(yǒng shuǐ) gushing water	keeps the transliteration alongside

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths