Classica Sinica Medica

暴厥

bào jué

Bao jue · abrupt inversion

Also rendered: Abrupt inversion (this site; 厥 is kept as inversion, the reading the site uses throughout, and 暴 is kept as abrupt so that this word is not confused with the 薄厥 of chapter 3) · Sudden inversion (the rendering the site already gives 薄厥 (bó jué) in chapter 3; the two are close in sense and are kept apart here)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-01

At a glance

Pinyin
bào jué
Simplified
暴厥
Literal
暴厥 bào jué — chapter 48's one named 厥, and the only place in the chapter where a pulse is given a disease name outright: 脉至如喘，名曰暴厥. The pulse comes panting, and the person cannot speak with anyone. The chapter is otherwise a catalogue of fatal pulses, and this is the one that is survivable enough to be named and described rather than merely timed to a day of death.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：暴，晞也，从日从出从収从米；厥，發石也，从厂欮聲。「暴」讀 bào、**本篇二見，皆在「暴厥」**；「厥」讀 jué、**本篇三見**。

In brief

The one inversion chapter 48 names: the pulse arrives panting, and the person cannot speak with anyone. It stands out in a chapter given over to pulses that fix a day of death, because here the pulse is named and its sign described rather than used merely to count the days.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 暴厥
暴者卒然而至，厥者氣逆而上
名曰暴厥 — Suwen 48
2
Its pulse 如喘
脉來如人之喘，急而無緒
脉至如喘 — Suwen 48
3
Its sign 不知與人言
氣逆於上，故不能與人言語
暴厥者，不知與人言 — Suwen 48
4
How it is named 名曰
本篇諸脉多不名，此獨有名
名曰暴厥 — Suwen 48
5
Set beside the rest 與諸死脉異
本篇諸脉皆定期而死，此但言其證
脉至如喘，名曰暴厥 — Suwen 48
6
What 厥 does here 氣逆
厥之為義，氣上而不下
暴厥者，不知與人言 — Suwen 48

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 48 Suwen 48 · 大奇論 Read in context →
脉至如喘，名曰暴厥。暴厥者，不知與人言。 脉至如喘，名曰暴厥。暴厥者，不知与人言。
Mài zhì rú chuǎn, míng yuē bào jué. Bào jué zhě, bù zhī yǔ rén yán.
A pulse arriving like panting is called sudden inversion. In sudden inversion a person does not know how to speak with others.
**「名曰暴厥」——**「暴」讀 bào、**本篇二見，皆此**；「厥」讀 jué、**本篇三見**（暴厥二、癇厥一）；**「不知與人言」為其證，本篇諸脉中惟此有名有證而不言死期**。

Compounds built on this term

暴厥
bào jué
sudden inversion
本篇二見，皆此一條
脉至如喘
mài zhì rú chuǎn
the pulse arriving like panting
暴厥之脉
不知與人言
bù zhī yǔ rén yán
not knowing how to speak with people
暴厥之證
癇厥
xián jué
fit with inversion
同篇之另一厥，二陰急所為
薄厥
bó jué
sudden inversion
素問三之厥，與暴厥同類而別為一目

How it has been translated

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

This sitebao jue, abrupt inversionkept partly in pinyin because 薄厥 bó jué already carries the English sudden inversion
Unschuldsudden recessionhe renders 厥 as the qi receding from its proper place
Wisemansudden reversalhis system regularises 厥 as reversal

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-01

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Reading path

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