卒

cù

Sudden · cu

Also rendered: Sudden (this site; the reading cu is shown once at the headword) · Abrupt (possible, but 'sudden' is the word the texts themselves reach for)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
cù
Simplified
卒
Literal
卒 cù — sudden. The same graph is the ordinary word for a soldier (zú) and for coming to an end, but chapter 39 reads it cù, as a writing of 猝: all at once. The chapter's opening question is about 卒痛, sudden pain, and its first answered case ends 故卒然而痛, and so the pain comes on all at once — which is exactly what distinguishes these pains from the aches that build. The word then reappears where the chapter is most severe: cold lodging in the five stores produces 卒然痛,死不知人, pain so sudden that the person looks dead, and the sign that they are not is that after a short interval they come back. Read cù throughout; nothing in the chapter is about soldiers.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:卒,隸人給事者衣為卒——**本義為隸卒、兵卒,讀 zú**。**本篇皆讀 cù,通「猝」(「猝」),忽然也**。「卒」讀 cù,**本篇6見**:**「五藏卒痛」一見、「卒然而痛」一見、「卒然痛,死不知人」一見(其餘見於下文諸條)**——**三處皆忽然之義,無一作兵卒、終卒解**。**本篇「卒然」與「少閒」相對**:**卒然而痛者其發驟,少閒復生者其來有間**——**驟與間,即死與生之別**。

In brief

Sudden. Chapter 39 reads the graph cù rather than zú, and suddenness is the mark of the pains it is about: they arrive all at once, and the worst of them are sudden enough to look like death.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
What the graph says 卒
本義為隸卒,讀 zú;本篇讀 cù,通「猝」,忽然也
願聞人之五藏卒痛 — Suwen 39
2
The chapter's question 五藏卒痛
忽然作痛,本篇以此發問
願聞人之五藏卒痛 — Suwen 39
3
The first case 卒然而痛
客於脉外則血少,客於脉中則氣不通,故卒然而痛
故卒然而痛 — Suwen 39
4
The worst case 卒然痛,死不知人
寒氣客於五藏,厥逆上泄,故卒然痛而死不知人
故卒然痛,死不知人 — Suwen 39
5
Not the other reading 卒 zú
卒有 zú(兵卒、終卒)、cù(猝然)二讀,本篇皆讀 cù
願聞人之五藏卒痛 — Suwen 39
6
Set against an interval 少閒
卒然者發之驟,少閒復生者來有間
有少閒復生者 — Suwen 39

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
4 passages
Suwen 39 Suwen 39 · 舉痛論 Read in context →
寒氣客於五藏,厥逆上泄,陰氣竭,陽氣未入,故卒然痛,死不知人,氣復反則生矣。 寒气客于五藏,厥逆上泄,阴气竭,阳气未入,故卒然痛,死不知人,气复反则生矣。
Hán qì kè yú wǔ zàng, jué nì shàng xiè, yīn qì jié, yáng qì wèi rù, gù cù rán tòng, sǐ bù zhī rén, qì fù fǎn zé shēng yǐ.
Cold qi lodging in the five stores rebels upward and leaks out; the yin qi is spent and the yang qi has not yet entered, hence a sudden pain and a death-like loss of awareness — when the qi turns back again, life returns.
**「寒氣客於五藏,厥逆上泄,陰氣竭,陽氣未入,故卒然痛,死不知人,氣復反則生矣」是十四條中最危之一條**——**前言諸痛皆在經脉、腸胃、膜原、俞脉之間,此獨入五藏**,**故不言痛之狀而言死生**。**「卒」(「卒」讀 cù)讀 cù,本篇6見**;**「竭」(「竭」讀 jié)讀 jié**,**與第三十六篇「絶」(「絶」讀 jué)形近而音義俱別,校勘互注時勿相混**。**「反」同「返」**,**氣復反則生**;**「厥逆」(「厥」「逆」)本站 #925**。
素問·繆刺論 Suwen 63 · 繆刺論 Read in context →
邪客於足厥陰之絡,令人卒疝暴痛,刺足大指爪甲上與肉交者,各一痏,男子立已,女子有頃已。 邪客于足厥阴之络,令人卒疝暴痛,刺足大指爪甲上与肉交者,各一痏,男子立已,女子有顷已。
Xié kè yú zú jué yīn zhī luò, lìng rén cù shàn bào tòng, cì zú dà zhǐ zhǎo jiǎ shàng yǔ ròu jiāo zhě, gè yī wěi, nán zǐ lì yǐ, nǚ zǐ yǒu qǐng yǐ.
When evil lodges in the network of the foot ceasing yin it causes sudden rupture and violent pain. Puncture where the nail of the great toe meets the flesh, one puncture on each side. In a man it ends at once, in a woman after a while.
「邪客於足厥陰之絡,令人卒疝暴痛」——**「卒」本篇2見,皆讀 cù**:**「令人卒心痛,暴脹」一見、「令人卒疝暴痛」一見,皆卒然而發**;**本篇之證多發於卒然,故治之亦以「立已」「如食頃已」為驗**;**「卒」讀 cù,不从 zú**
素問·氣交變大論 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰:承天而行之,故無妄動,無不應也。卒然而動者,氣之交變也,其不應焉,故曰:應常不應卒,此之謂也。 歧伯曰:承天而行之,故无妄动,无不应也。卒然而动者,气之交变也,其不应焉,故曰:应常不应卒,此之谓也。
Qí bó yuē: chéng tiān ér xíng zhī, gù wú wàng dòng, wú bù yìng yě. Cù rán ér dòng zhě, qì zhī jiāo biàn yě, qí bù yìng yān, gù yuē: yìng cháng bù yìng cù, cǐ zhī wèi yě.
Qi Bo said: they move by receiving from heaven, and so they do not move wildly and there is nothing they do not answer to. What stirs of a sudden is the meeting and change of the qi, and they do not answer to it. Hence it is said: they answer to the constant and do not answer to the sudden. This is what that means.
「卒然而動者,氣之交變也,其不應焉,故曰:應常不應卒,此之謂也」——**「卒」本篇4見而止一讀:卒然災合、卒然而動二見、應常不應卒,皆讀 cù,通「猝」,倉猝之義**;**本篇無 zú 一讀,與第三十九、六十三篇同讀**;**「卒然」本篇3見**
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
然其卒發者,不必治於傳,或其傳化有不以次,不以次入者。憂恐悲喜怒,令不得以其次,故令人有大病矣。 然其卒发者,不必治于传,或其传化有不以次,不以次入者。忧恐悲喜怒,令不得以其次,故令人有大病矣。
Rán qí cù fā zhě, bù bì zhì yú chuán, huò qí chuán huà yǒu bù yǐ cì, bù yǐ cì rù zhě. Yōu kǒng bēi xǐ nù, lìng bù dé yǐ qí cì, gù lìng rén yǒu dà bìng yǐ.
But what erupts suddenly need not be treated by the order of transmission; some transmutations do not follow the sequence, entering out of order. Grief, fear, sorrow, joy and anger prevent it from keeping its order, and so bring on great disease.
「其卒發者」,卒讀 cù,同「猝」,謂病之忽然而起、不由傳次者;本篇又見「身中卒至」,皆言其來之暴。

Compounds built on this term

卒痛
cù tòng
sudden pain
本篇發問之詞,五藏卒痛
卒然而痛
cù rán ér tòng
to hurt all at once
第一篇答語之結
卒然痛,死不知人
cù rán tòng, sǐ bù zhī rén
pain so sudden that the person knows nothing
寒氣客於五藏之候
少閒復生
shǎo jiàn fù shēng
to come back after a short interval
讀 shǎo,與卒然相對

How it has been translated

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

This sitesuddentranslated; the graph is unremarkable in English and only its reading needs marking
Unschuldsuddenrenders 卒痛 as 'sudden pain'
Wisemansuddenthe same; Wiseman notes explicitly that 卒 stands for 猝 in this sense

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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