Classica Sinica Medica

肝風 简体 肝风

gān fēng

Liver wind · gan feng

Also rendered: Liver wind (this site; gan feng given at the headword) · Wind in the liver (the plainer rendering)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
gān fēng
Simplified
肝风
Literal
肝風 gān fēng — wind lodged in the liver: grief, a faintly blue-green cast, a dry throat, anger, and at times a turning away from women. Read below the eye, blue-green.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：肝，木藏也。从肉干聲。「肝」讀 gān，**本篇2見**：**「爲肝風」「肝風之狀」**；**「蒼」讀 cāng**——**肝合木，其色蒼**；**「嗌」讀 yì**；**「憎」讀 zēng**。

In brief

Liver wind is the third store wind, and the one whose signs are temper and mood rather than pain. Wang Bing explains the grief: the liver disease leaves the heart with nothing to feed it, and the heart qi being empty, the patient grieves. It is read below the eye, blue-green.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
What the graph says 肝
木藏也，从肉干聲
肝風之狀 — Suwen 42
2
The signs every store wind shares 多汗惡風
五藏之風無不多汗而惡風
肝風之狀，多汗惡風 — Suwen 42
3
Why the grief 善悲
王冰：肝病則心無所養，心氣虛故善悲
善悲 — Suwen 42 (Wang Bing)
4
The liver's own colour 色微蒼
肝合木，色蒼
色微蒼 — Suwen 42
5
The dryness and the anger 嗌乾善怒
嗌讀 yì；肝脉循喉嚨之後
嗌乾善怒 — Suwen 42
6
Where it is read 診在目下，其色青
目下為肝之部
診在目下 — Suwen 42

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 42 Suwen 42 · 風論 Read in context →
肝風之狀，多汗惡風，善悲，色微蒼，嗌乾善怒，時憎女子，診在目下，其色青。 肝风之状，多汗恶风，善悲，色微苍，嗌干善怒，时憎女子，诊在目下，其色青。
Gān fēng zhī zhuàng, duō hàn wù fēng, shàn bēi, sè wēi cāng, yì gān shàn nù, shí zēng nǚ zǐ, zhěn zài mù xià, qí sè qīng.
In liver wind the patient sweats freely and loathes wind; he is given to grief; the colour is faintly blue-green; the throat is dry and he is quick to anger, and at times he turns from women. It is diagnosed below the eye, and the colour is blue-green.
**「善悲」——王冰「肝病則心藏無養，心氣虛故善悲」**；**「色微蒼」之「蒼」讀 cāng**——**肝合木，色蒼**；**「嗌乾」之「嗌」讀 yì**——**第二十九篇「嗌」已立目**；**「診在目下，其色青」——本篇診法皆以色與部相配**。

Compounds built on this term

肝風
gān fēng
liver wind
本篇二見
色微蒼
sè wēi cāng
faintly blue-green
肝風之色
嗌乾善怒
yì gān shàn nù
dry throat, quick to anger
嗌讀 yì
時憎女子
shí zēng nǚ zǐ
at times he turns from women
王冰未釋，後人多以肝主疏泄言之

How it has been translated

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

This siteliver windtranslated, with gan feng at the headword
Unschuldliver windthe same
Wisemanliver windthe same

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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