Classica Sinica Medica

癲病 简体 癫病

diān bìng

Dian illness · dian bing

Also rendered: Dian illness (this site; the graph kept, the name left as the chapter gives it, and the two neighbours 癲疾 and 巔疾 kept apart from it) · Epilepsy; 癫痫 (what the word covers in later medicine and in modern editions; the identification is fair, but the chapter's own definition — by interval, not by seizure — goes with it)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-02

At a glance

Pinyin
diān bìng
Simplified
癫病
Literal
癲 diān — from 疒, the sickness radical: falling, overturning, the head gone over. 病 bìng — illness: 《說文》 has 病 as 疾加也, sickness that has grown, which is why the graph carries 丙 inside the sickness radical. The site already carries two neighbours of this word and keeps them apart: 癲疾 diān jí, epilepsy, the received graph, and 巔疾 diān jí, the crown of the head, which the base text writes from 山 in chapter 47. Here the second graph is 病 rather than 疾, and the name is the chapter's own: 月四五發，名曰癲病.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：「病，疾加也，从疒丙聲」；「發，射發也」；「歲，木星也」；「月，闕也」；「一，惟初太始，道立於一」。「癲」讀 diān、**从疒，本篇1見**；「病」讀 bìng、**本篇20見**；「初」讀 chū、**「病初發」之初讀 chū，本篇1見**；「發」讀 fā、**本篇7見，皆讀 fā**；「歲」讀 suì、**「歲一發」之歲讀 suì，本篇1見**；「一」讀 yī、**本篇5見**；「不」讀 bù、**本篇7見**；「治」讀 zhì、**「不治」之治讀 zhì，本篇4見**；「月」讀 yuè、**本篇2見**；「四」讀 sì、**本篇3見**；「五」讀 wǔ、**本篇1見**；「刺」讀 cì、**本篇26見**；「諸」讀 zhū、**本篇6見**；「分」讀 fēn、**本篇10見**；「脉」讀 mài、**本篇5見**；「寒」讀 hán、**本篇10見**；「無」讀 wú、**本篇4見**；「者」讀 zhě、**本篇8見**；「調」讀 tiáo、**「以鍼調之」之調讀 tiáo，本篇1見**

In brief

An illness named by how often it comes. Chapter 55 gives no seizure and no pulse for it — only a calendar running the wrong way: once a year at first, then once a month if it is not treated, then four or five times a month, and only then is it given its name. The treatment is as general as the description: needle the partings and the vessels, and where there is no cold in them, regulate with the needle. The site’s 癲疾 entry takes the disease from chapter 28, where it is judged entirely by the pulse; this is the same disease seen through its intervals.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 癲病
癲从疒，顛仆之義；病者疾加也（《說文》「病，疾加也」）；與从山之「巔」別，本站於第四十七篇辨之
名曰癲病 — Suwen 55
2
How often, at first 病初發，歲一發
初發之時，一歲一發
病初發，歲一發 — Suwen 55
3
Left alone 不治，月一發
不治則加，一月一發
月一發，不治 — Suwen 55
4
Left longer 月四五發，名曰癲病
一月四五發，然後名之曰癲病；本篇以發作之頻命名，不言其狀
月四五發，名曰癲病 — Suwen 55
5
The needling 刺諸分諸脉
分肉與經脉皆刺之，不以一穴為限
刺諸分諸脉 — Suwen 55
6
Where there is no cold 其無寒者，以鍼調之
無寒者不可用瀉，但以鍼調之而已；本篇三見「調」字
其無寒者，以鍼調之，病止 — Suwen 55

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 55 Suwen 55 · 長刺節論 Read in context →
病初發，歲一發，不治，月一發，不治，月四五發，名曰癲病。刺諸分諸脉，其無寒者，以鍼調之，病止。 病初发，岁一发，不治，月一发，不治，月四五发，名曰癫病。刺诸分诸脉，其无寒者，以针调之，病止。
Bìng chū fā, suì yī fā, bù zhì, yuè yī fā, bù zhì, yuè sì wǔ fā, míng yuē diān bìng. Cì zhū fēn zhū mài, qí wú hán zhě, yǐ zhēn tiáo zhī, bìng zhǐ.
At the outset it erupts once a year. Left untreated, once a month. Left longer still, four or five times a month: this is called diān illness. Needle the various partings and the various vessels; where there is no cold, regulate with the needle, and the illness stops.
**「癲病」本篇1見——「癲」讀 diān、**本篇1見**；「病」讀 bìng、**本篇20見**；「初」讀 chū、**本篇1見**；「發」讀 fā、**本篇7見，皆讀 fā**；「歲」讀 suì、**本篇1見**；「月」讀 yuè、**本篇2見**；「治」讀 zhì、**「不治」讀 zhì，本篇4見**；「刺」讀 cì、**本篇26見**；「諸」讀 zhū、**本篇6見**；「分」讀 fēn、**本篇10見**；「脉」讀 mài、**本篇5見**；「寒」讀 hán、**本篇10見**；「調」讀 tiáo、**「以鍼調之」讀 tiáo，本篇1見**；**本篇不言其狀，但以發作之頻命名；與第二十八篇以脉斷癲疾者互見**

Compounds built on this term

癲病
diān bìng
dian illness
本篇一見（名曰癲病）
病初發
bìng chū fā
the illness first erupting
本篇一見
月四五發
yuè sì wǔ fā
four or five fits a month
本篇一見，命名之據
以鍼調之
yǐ zhēn tiáo zhī
regulating it with the needle
本篇一見

How it has been translated

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

This sitedian illnessnamed in chapter 55 by the intervals between fits, and treated by needling the partings and the vessels
Later medicine癇 xián, 癲癇 diān xiánsorted into the fits, with causes and a materia medica the Suwen does not have
Modern editions癫痫 epilepsya disease of the nervous system; what is lost is the count the chapter makes — a name given only when the fits have closed to four or five a month

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-02

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