Classica Sinica Medica

脹滿 简体 胀满

zhàng mǎn

Distension and fullness · zhang man

Also rendered: Distension and fullness (this site; literal from the two graphs, keeping both, because the chapter is the only place in this catalogue that writes them together) · Abdominal distension (the modern clinical phrasing; right about the stomach's entry, and it flattens 脹 and 滿 into one word)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-05

At a glance

Pinyin
zhàng mǎn
Simplified
胀满
Literal
脹 zhàng — to swell, to be distended; 滿 mǎn — full. The two graphs stand together once in this chapter, at the head of the entry for the stomach: 胃病，脹滿，五日少腹腰脊痛. Everywhere else the chapter writes them apart — 而脹 three times in the catalogue, 腹脹 three times, 少腹脹 once — so 脹滿 is the only place the chapter says both at once. In the stomach's entry it is the first thing named and the thing from which the five-day interval to the lower abdomen and spine is counted, which is the chapter's way of saying that distension is where this illness starts and where it is felt first.
Shuowen
**「脹」讀 zhàng，本篇7見；「滿」讀 mǎn，本篇6見**；**「脹滿」本篇1見，在「胃病，脹滿」一句**；**本篇言脹者7見：「脹滿」一見，「而脹」三見，「腹脹」3見，「少腹脹」1見**；**《說文》無「脹」字，其字後起，****《玉篇》：脹，脹滿也；《廣韻》：脹，脹滿，知亮切**；**《說文》：滿，盈溢也，从水㒼聲**；**「胃」讀 wèi，本篇1見；「少腹」讀 shào fù，本篇5見**；**「腰」讀 yāo、「脊」讀 jǐ；「䯒」讀 héng、「痠」讀 suān**

In brief

Distension and fullness — 脹 zhàng, swollen; 滿 mǎn, full — written together once in this chapter, in the entry for the stomach: 胃病，脹滿，五日少腹腰脊痛. The graph 脹 is a late one; 《說文》 does not have it, and 《玉篇》 glosses it with exactly this phrase, 脹，脹滿也. 《說文》 does have 滿，盈溢也, filled to overflowing. The chapter uses 脹 in other shapes throughout its catalogue — 而脹 three times, 腹脹 three times, 少腹脹 once — but this is the only place the two graphs stand side by side, and it is the stomach that gets them, which is fitting: the stomach is the viscus whose illness is felt as fullness before it is felt anywhere else.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 脹滿
脹者，脹起也；滿者，盈溢也
胃病，脹滿，五日少腹腰脊痛 — Suwen 65
2
Where it stands in the stomach's entry 五日少腹腰脊痛
脹滿為胃病之首證，越五日而及少腹腰脊
胃病，脹滿，五日少腹腰脊痛 — Suwen 65
3
The same graph written apart 而脹
本篇言脹者七見，「而脹」三見，皆在肺、肝、脾三病之目
五日而脹，十日不已，死。 — Suwen 65
4
The abdomen named instead 腹脹
本篇言腹脹者三見，見於腎、胃、膀胱三病之目
三日腹脹，三日兩脅支痛 — Suwen 65
5
The lower abdomen named instead 少腹脹
本篇言少腹脹者一見，在膀胱病之目
五日少腹脹，腰脊痛 — Suwen 65
6
What follows from it 死期
脹滿不已，至於六日則死，冬夜半後，夏日昳
五日身體重，六日不已，死，冬夜半後，夏日昳。 — Suwen 65

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 65 Suwen 65 · 標本病傳論 Read in context →
胃病，脹滿，五日少腹腰脊痛，䯒痠，三日背膂筋痛，小便閉，五日身體重，六日不已，死，冬夜半後，夏日昳。 胃病，胀满，五日少腹腰脊痛，䯒酸，三日背膂筋痛，小便闭，五日身体重，六日不已，死，冬夜半后，夏日昳。
Wèi bìng, zhàng mǎn, wǔ rì shào fù yāo jǐ tòng, héng suān, sān rì bèi lǚ jīn tòng, xiǎo biàn bì, wǔ rì shēn tǐ zhòng, liù rì bù yǐ, sǐ, dōng yè bàn hòu, xià rì dié.
In illness of the stomach there is distension and fullness; after five days, pain in the lower abdomen, back and spine, with aching in the shank; after three days, pain in the sinews of the back and stoppage of urine; after five days, the body is heavy. Should it not abate after six days, the person dies: in winter, after midnight; in summer, when the sun begins to decline.
**「脹滿」本篇1見，在「胃病，脹滿」一句**；**「脹」讀 zhàng，本篇7見；「滿」讀 mǎn，本篇6見**；**本篇言脹者7見：「脹滿」一見，「而脹」三見，「腹脹」3見，「少腹脹」1見**；**《說文》無「脹」字，《玉篇》：脹，脹滿也；《說文》：滿，盈溢也**；**「胃」讀 wèi；「少腹」讀 shào fù，本篇5見**；**「腰」讀 yāo、「脊」讀 jǐ、「䯒」讀 héng、「痠」讀 suān、「小便閉」4見**；**本篇「夏日昳」之「昳」讀 dié，「冬夜半後」之「半」讀 bàn**

Compounds built on this term

腹脹
fù zhàng
distension of the abdomen
本篇3見，見於腎、胃、膀胱三病之目
少腹脹
shào fù zhàng
distension of the lower abdomen
本篇1見，在膀胱病之目；「少腹」讀 shào fù
而脹
ér zhàng
and then distension
本篇三見，見於肺、肝、脾三病之目，皆記其日數
中滿
zhōng mǎn
fullness in the centre
本篇3見，屬標本之治，與病傳之脹滿別

How it has been translated

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

This sitedistension and fullnessliteral from the graphs — 脹 swollen, 滿 full — and both kept rather than merged, because the chapter's other six uses of 脹 are written without 滿 and the difference is visible in the text
Later usagezhang man, distensionhow the phrase travels in English writing on Chinese medicine, transliterated with a gloss; serviceable, and it tends to collapse the two graphs into one symptom
Clinicalabdominal distensionthe modern term for the same finding; exact about the stomach, and it loses the pairing, which is what makes this one line of the catalogue different from the six around it

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-05

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