癘風简体疠风

lì fēng

Li wind · li feng

Also rendered: Li wind (this site; li is kept, because the disease is not the modern one) · Repulsive wind (keeps the sense of 癘 as an evil disease without naming a modern diagnosis)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: lì fēng
Simplified: 疠风
Literal: 癘風 lì fēng — the wind that rots. The chapter gives it a mechanism and not merely a name: the construction qi is hot and putrefies, that qi is no longer clear, and so the bridge of the nose is destroyed, the complexion ruined, and the skin breaks into sores.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：癘，惡疾也。从疒，蠆省聲。「癘」讀 lì，**讀 lì（洛帶切），本篇3見**；**不讀 lài**——**作「癩」之異體時方讀 lài**。**「癘風」二見**：**「或爲癘風」（開篇六端之一）、「名曰癘風」（風寒客脉而不去）**；**「胕」讀 fù，腐也**；「瘍」讀 yáng、「潰」讀 kuì**。

In brief

Li wind is the disease later called 麻風 (leprosy): wind and cold lodged in the vessels that will not leave, rotting from the construction qi outward. Chapter 42 describes its end state rather than its beginning — the nose collapsed, the skin ulcerating — and gives it 寒熱 as an alternative name.

Senses in the classical corpus

What the graph says 癘

惡疾也；从疒，蠆省聲

或爲癘風 — Suwen 42

The mechanism 有榮氣熱胕，其氣不清

榮氣蘊熱而腐，其氣濁亂

癘者，有榮氣熱胕 — Suwen 42

What it does to the face 鼻柱壞而色敗

鼻梁毀壞，顏色敗惡

故使其鼻柱壞而色敗 — Suwen 42

What it does to the skin 皮膚瘍潰

生瘡而潰爛

皮膚瘍潰 — Suwen 42

How it is caught 風寒客於脉而不去

客脉不去，久則成癘

風寒客於脉而不去 — Suwen 42

Its other name 或名曰寒熱

始為寒熱，熱成曰癘風

或名曰寒熱 — Suwen 42

Occurrences in the classics

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

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1 passages

Suwen 42 Suwen 42 · 風論 Read in context →

癘者，有榮氣熱胕，其氣不清，故使其鼻柱壞而色敗，皮膚瘍潰。風寒客於脉而不去，名曰癘風，或名曰寒熱。疠者，有荣气热胕，其气不清，故使其鼻柱坏而色败，皮肤疡溃。风寒客于脉而不去，名曰疠风，或名曰寒热。

Lì zhě, yǒu róng qì rè fù, qí qì bù qīng, gù shǐ qí bí zhù huài ér sè bài, pí fū yáng kuì.Fēng hán kè yú mài ér bù qù, míng yuē lì fēng, huò míng yuē hán rè.

In li, the construction qi is hot and rots; that qi is not clear. So the bridge of the nose is destroyed and the complexion ruined, and the skin breaks into sores and ulcerates. When wind and cold lodge in the vessels and do not leave, it is called li wind; it is also called cold and heat.

**「癘者，有榮氣熱胕」一句是本篇對癘之病機**——**王冰「與榮氣合，合熱而血胕壞也」**；**「胕」讀 fù，腐也**（《太素》楊上善「扶付反，義當腐」），**一作「熱腑」，字異**；**「風寒客於脉而不去，名曰癘風」——「客」讀 kè，留止也**；**「或名曰寒熱」——與上文同名，是癘風亦稱寒熱**。

Compounds built on this term

癘風

lì fēng

li wind

本篇二見

鼻柱壞

bí zhù huài

the bridge of the nose destroyed

癘風之外候

皮膚瘍潰

pí fū yáng kuì

the skin breaks into sores and ulcerates

癘風之極候

有榮氣熱胕

yǒu róng qì rè fù

the construction qi is hot and rots

王冰「合熱而血胕壞也」

How it has been translated

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

This site	li wind	li is transliterated once at the headword and glossed as the wind that rots
Unschuld	li wind	the same; he warns against equating it with modern leprosy
Wiseman	li wind	the same, reading 癘 by 癩

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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