熒惑 简体 荧惑

yíng huò

Mars · ying huo

Also rendered: The confounding glimmer (this site; literal, and it keeps what the planet does in its name) · Ying huo (transliteration; how the name appears in writing on the 運氣 method and on the planet's retrograde motion)

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin
yíng huò
Simplified
荧惑
Literal
熒 yíng — a glimmer, a light that flickers (《說文》: 熒,屋下鐙燭之光); 惑 huò — to confound, to bewilder (《說文》: 惑,亂也). 熒惑 is literally the confounding glimmer: the red star that wanders, reverses, and will not keep to a path, and so confounds anyone who tries to read it. It is the planet of fire and of the south — Mars — and in this chapter it is the star most often named, because fire is the circuit that changes other circuits and the one whose revenge is hottest.
Shuowen
**「熒」讀 yíng,本篇8見,皆在「熒惑」一詞內**;**「惑」讀 huò,本篇8見**;**《說文》:熒,屋下鐙燭之光;惑,亂也**;**「熒惑」本篇8見,五星之中為最多**;**本篇稱星或單舉二字(熒惑),或綴以「星」字(熒惑星),二式並行**

In brief

The planet Mars, the star of fire and of the south, and the one this chapter names most often of the five. Its name is its behaviour: a glimmer that confounds, because the red star wanders and doubles back and will not hold a course. Fire answers to it in surplus (歲火太過…上應熒惑星) and on revenge; metal falling short answers to it too, because fire is what rises against metal (歲金不及,炎火乃行…上應熒惑星). Twice in one paragraph, once for the circuit and once for what strikes it.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 熒惑
熒者微光,惑者亂也;光亂而行,故名
上應熒惑星 — Suwen 69
2
The planet 熒惑
火之精,即今之火星
歲火太過,炎暑流行 — Suwen 69
3
Fire in surplus 歲火太過,炎暑流行,金肺受邪
火運太過,則熒惑應之
上應熒惑星 — Suwen 69
4
Metal falling short 歲金不及,炎火乃行
金不及則火來乘之,熒惑見焉
上應熒惑星 — Suwen 69
5
Revenge 復則炎暑流火,濕性燥
復氣之發,亦上應熒惑
上應熒惑、太白 — Suwen 69
6
Twice in one passage 上應熒惑星…上應熒惑星
一為本運之應,一為復氣之應
上應熒惑星 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
Suwen 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
歲火太過,炎暑流行,金肺受邪。民病瘧,少氣欬喘,血溢,血泄,注下,嗌燥耳聾,中熱,肩背熱。上應熒惑星。甚則胸中痛,脅支滿,脅痛,膺背肩胛間痛,兩臂内痛,身熱骨痛,而爲浸淫。收氣不行,長氣獨明,雨水霜寒。上應辰星。上臨少陰少陽,火燔爇,冰泉涸,物焦槁。病反譫妄狂越,欬喘息鳴,下甚血溢,泄不已。太淵絶者,死不治。上應熒惑星。 岁火太过,炎暑流行,金肺受邪。民病疟,少气欬喘,血溢,血泄,注下,嗌燥耳聋,中热,肩背热。上应荧惑星。甚则胸中痛,胁支满,胁痛,膺背肩胛间痛,两臂内痛,身热骨痛,而为浸淫。收气不行,长气独明,雨水霜寒。上应辰星。上临少阴少阳,火燔爇,冰泉涸,物焦槁。病反谵妄狂越,欬喘息鸣,下甚血溢,泄不已。太渊绝者,死不治。上应荧惑星。
Suì huǒ tài guò, yán shǔ liú xíng, jīn fèi shòu xié. Mín bìng nüè, shǎo qì kài chuǎn, xuè yì, xuè xiè, zhù xià, yì zào ěr lóng, zhōng rè, jiān bèi rè. Shàng yìng yíng huò xīng. Shèn zé xiōng zhōng tòng, xié zhī mǎn, xié tòng, yīng bèi jiān jiǎ jiān tòng, liǎng bì nèi tòng, shēn rè gǔ tòng, ér wéi jìn yín. Shōu qì bù xíng, zhǎng qì dú míng, yǔ shuǐ shuāng hán. Shàng yìng chén xīng. Shàng lín shào yīn shào yáng, huǒ fán ruò, bīng quán hé, wù jiāo gǎo. Bìng fǎn zhān wàng kuáng yuè, kài chuǎn xī míng, xià shèn xuè yì, xiè bù yǐ. Tài yuān jué zhě, sǐ bù zhì. Shàng yìng yíng huò xīng.
In a year of fire in surplus, blazing summer heat spreads and moves and the metal of the lung receives evil. The people are ill with malaria, scantness of qi, coughing and panting, blood escaping upward, blood discharged downward, pouring below, dryness of the throat and deafness, heat in the centre and heat in the shoulder and back; it answers above to Mars. If it is severe there is pain in the chest, propping fullness and pain in the flanks, pain between the breast, the back and the shoulder blades, pain on the inner side of both arms, heat of the body and pain in the bones, and the soaking spread of the illness. The qi of gathering does not move and the qi of growth shines alone; rain, water, frost and cold arrive; it answers above to Mercury. If lesser yin or lesser yang presides above, fire blazes and scorches, the icy springs dry up and things are burnt and withered; the illness turns to delirious speech and raving, coughing and panting with a noisy breath, and, below, severe bleeding and unending discharge. Where Taiyuan is cut off there is death and no cure; it answers above to Mars.
**「熒惑」本篇8見,此段有其2,五星之中為最多**;**「歲火太過」是五運太過之第二表**;**「太淵絶者,死不治」是本篇五脈之第二脈,金受邪故取肺脈**;**「雨水霜寒」底本如此,新校正疑「水」當作「冰」,本篇从底本**;**「爇」讀 ruò,本篇2見(火燔爇、其災燔爇),通行本多作「焫」**
素問·金匱真言論 Suwen 4 · 金匱真言論 Read in context →
南方赤色,入通於心,開竅於耳,藏精於心,故病在五藏。其味苦,其類火,其畜羊,其榖黍。其應四時,上爲熒惑星,是以知病之在脉也。其音徵,其數七,其臭焦。 南方赤色,入通于心,开窍于耳,藏精于心,故病在五藏。其味苦,其类火,其畜羊,其谷黍。其应四时,上为荧惑星,是以知病之在脉也。其音徵,其数七,其臭焦。
nán fāng chì sè, rù tōng yú xīn, kāi qiào yú ěr, cáng jīng yú xīn, gù bìng zài wǔ zàng. qí wèi kǔ, qí lèi huǒ, qí chù yáng, qí gǔ shǔ. qí yìng sì shí, shàng wéi yíng huò xīng, shì yǐ zhī bìng zhī zài mài yě. qí yīn zhǐ, qí shù qī, qí xiù jiāo.
The south is the red colour; it enters and communicates with the heart. It opens into the ears and stores its essence in the heart; hence the disease is in the five viscera. Its flavour is bitter, its class fire, its domestic animal the sheep, its grain glutinous millet. Answering to the four seasons, above it is the Shimmering Confounder; hence one knows the disease is in the vessels. Its note is zhi, its number seven. Its odour is scorched.
「上爲熒惑星」——南方赤色,通於心,其類火;熒惑為火星,南方之星;**「熒惑」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

歲火
suì huǒ
the year of fire
本篇2見;歲火太過、歲火不及
炎暑
yán shǔ
blazing summerheat
本篇3見;炎暑流行、炎暑流火
上應
shàng yìng
answering above
本篇34見;本篇十表之收束語
五星
wǔ xīng
the five planets
本篇1見;歲候不及其太過而上應五星

How it has been translated

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

This siteMarsliteral from the planet named; the chapter needs a star that answers to fire, and 熒惑 is that star
Transliterationying huohow the name is written in discussions of the five circuits; right about the referent, and it loses the confounding
Descriptivethe planet of fireexact, and it gives the phase rather than the body; the chapter's own name says how the planet moves, not what it is made of

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths