太白

tài bái

Venus · tai bai

Also rendered: The great white (this site; literal, and it keeps the colour that ties the planet to the west and to metal) · Tai bai (transliteration; how the name appears in writing on the 運氣 method, where the star is named by its colour and not by its metal)

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin
tài bái
Simplified
太白
Literal
太 tài — the great; 白 bái — white (《說文》: 白,西方色也). 太白 is the great white: the brightest thing in the sky after the sun and moon, and the colour of the west and of metal. It is Venus, the planet of metal, and it is the star this chapter names most often of the five with 上應 — metal in surplus, wood falling short, and the dryness that rises against wood when wood is short. White is the west's colour and metal's, and the chapter's three great drying passages all end here.
Shuowen
**「太」讀 tài,本篇26見**;**「白」讀 bái,本篇14見**;**《說文》:白,西方色也;陰用事,物色白**;**「太白」本篇10見,五星之中為最多**;**本篇稱星或單舉二字(太白),或綴以「星」字(太白星),二式並行**

In brief

The planet Venus, the star of metal and of the west, and the most frequently named of the five in this chapter. The name is the colour: white is the west’s colour and metal’s, and the great white is the brightest of the wandering stars. Metal in surplus answers to it (歲金太過…上應太白星), and wood falling short answers to it twice in the same answer, because what rises against short wood is dryness (歲木不及,燥乃大行…上應太白星). It closes the wood passage a third time, when the shrivelling is complete.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 太白
太者大也,白者西方之色;大而色白,故名
上應太白星 — Suwen 69
2
The planet 太白
金之精,即今之金星
歲金太過,燥氣流行 — Suwen 69
3
Metal in surplus 歲金太過,燥氣流行,肝木受邪
金運太過,則太白應之
上應太白星 — Suwen 69
4
Wood falling short 歲木不及,燥乃大行
木不及則金來乘之,太白見焉
上應太白星 — Suwen 69
5
The shrivelling 肅殺而甚,則剛木辟著
燥氣甚,太白又一度見
上應太白星 — Suwen 69
6
Revenge 復則炎暑流火
復氣之發,太白與熒惑並見
上應熒惑、太白 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
Suwen 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
歲金太過,燥氣流行,肝木受邪,民病兩脅下少腹痛,目赤痛眦瘍,耳無所聞。肅殺而甚,則體重煩冤,胸痛引背,兩脅滿且痛引少腹。上應太白星。甚則喘欬逆氣,肩背痛,凥陰股膝髀腨䯒足皆病。上應熒惑星。收氣峻,生氣下,草木斂,蒼乾凋隕。病反暴痛,胠脅不可反側,欬逆甚而血溢。太衝絶者,死不治,上應太白星。 岁金太过,燥气流行,肝木受邪,民病两胁下少腹痛,目赤痛眦疡,耳无所闻。肃杀而甚,则体重烦冤,胸痛引背,两胁满且痛引少腹。上应太白星。甚则喘欬逆气,肩背痛,凥阴股膝髀腨䯒足皆病。上应荧惑星。收气峻,生气下,草木敛,苍干凋陨。病反暴痛,胠胁不可反侧,欬逆甚而血溢。太冲绝者,死不治,上应太白星。
Suì jīn tài guò, zào qì liú xíng, gān mù shòu xié, mín bìng liǎng xié xià shào fù tòng, mù chì tòng zì yáng, ěr wú suǒ wén. Sù shā ér shèn, zé tǐ zhòng fán yuān, xiōng tòng yǐn bèi, liǎng xié mǎn qiě tòng yǐn shào fù. Shàng yìng tài bái xīng. Shèn zé chuǎn kài nì qì, jiān bèi tòng, kāo yīn gǔ xī bì shuàn héng zú jiē bìng. Shàng yìng yíng huò xīng. Shōu qì jùn, shēng qì xià, cǎo mù liǎn, cāng gān diāo yǔn. Bìng fǎn bào tòng, qū xié bù kě fǎn cè, kài nì shèn ér xuè yì. Tài chōng jué zhě, sǐ bù zhì, shàng yìng tài bái xīng.
In a year of metal in surplus, the qi of dryness spreads and moves and the wood of the liver receives evil. The people are ill with pain below both flanks and in the lower abdomen, red and painful eyes with sores at the corner of the eye, and ears that hear nothing. If the severity and killing is extreme, the body is heavy and there is freting oppression, pain in the chest that draws to the back, and fullness in both flanks with pain drawing into the lower abdomen; it answers above to Venus. If it is severe there is panting and coughing with counterflow qi, pain in the shoulder and back, and the sacrum, the private parts, the thigh, the knee, the hip, the calf, the shin and the foot are all affected; it answers above to Mars. The qi of gathering is harsh and the qi of growth sinks; plants and trees draw in and the blue-green dries and falls. The illness turns to sudden pain; the flanks cannot be turned or lain upon; the coughing counterflow is severe and blood escapes. Where Taichong is cut off there is death and no cure; it answers above to Venus.
**「太白」本篇10見,此段有其2**;**「歲金太過」是五運太過之第四表**;**「太衝絶者,死不治」是本篇五脈之第四脈,木受邪故取肝脈**;**「眦」讀 zì,本篇1見,底本作「眦」,通行本多作「眥」**;**「凥」本篇1見,此讀 kāo,義為尻,與字本之 jū 異讀**
素問·金匱真言論 Suwen 4 · 金匱真言論 Read in context →
西方白色,入通於肺,開竅於鼻,藏精於肺,故病在背。其味辛,其類金,其畜馬,其榖稻。其應四時,上爲太白星,是以知病之在皮毛也。其音商,其數九,其臭腥。 西方白色,入通于肺,开窍于鼻,藏精于肺,故病在背。其味辛,其类金,其畜马,其谷稻。其应四时,上为太白星,是以知病之在皮毛也。其音商,其数九,其臭腥。
xī fāng bái sè, rù tōng yú fèi, kāi qiào yú bí, cáng jīng yú fèi, gù bìng zài bèi. qí wèi xīn, qí lèi jīn, qí chù mǎ, qí gǔ dào. qí yìng sì shí, shàng wéi tài bái xīng, shì yǐ zhī bìng zhī zài pí máo yě. qí yīn shāng, qí shù jiǔ, qí xiù xīng.
The west is the white colour; it enters and communicates with the lung. It opens into the nose and stores its essence in the lung; hence the disease is in the back. Its flavour is acrid, its class metal, its domestic animal the horse, its grain rice. Answering to the four seasons, above it is the Great White Star; hence one knows the disease is in the skin and body hair. Its note is shang, its number nine. Its odour is fishy.
「上爲太白星」——西方白色,通於肺,其類金;太白為金星,西方之星;**「太白」本篇1見**
Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →
凡此少陰司天之政,氣化運行先天,地氣肅,天氣明,寒交暑,熱加燥,雲馳雨府,濕化乃行,時雨乃降,金火合德,上應熒惑、太白,其政明,其令切,其榖丹白,水火寒熱,持於氣交,而爲病始也。熱病生於上,清病生於下,寒熱凌犯而争於中,民病欬喘,血溢血泄,鼽嚏目赤,眦瘍,寒厥入胃,心痛腰痛,腹大,嗌乾腫上。 凡此少阴司天之政,气化运行先天,地气肃,天气明,寒交暑,热加燥,云驰雨府,湿化乃行,时雨乃降,金火合德,上应荧惑、太白,其政明,其令切,其谷丹白,水火寒热,持于气交,而为病始也。热病生于上,清病生于下,寒热凌犯而争于中,民病咳喘,血溢血泄,鼽嚏目赤,眦疡,寒厥入胃,心痛腰痛,腹大,嗌干肿上。
Fán cǐ shào yīn sī tiān zhī zhèng, qì huà yùn xíng xiān tiān, dì qì sù, tiān qì míng, hán jiāo shǔ, rè jiā zào, yún chí yǔ fǔ, shī huà nǎi xíng, shí yǔ nǎi jiàng, jīn huǒ hé dé, shàng yìng yíng huò, tài bái, qí zhèng míng, qí lìng qiè, qí gǔ dān bái, shuǐ huǒ hán rè, chí yú qì jiāo, ér wéi bìng shǐ yě. Rè bìng shēng yú shàng, qīng bìng shēng yú xià, hán rè líng fàn ér zhēng yú zhōng, mín bìng kài chuǎn, xuè yì xuè xiè, qiú tì mù chì, zì yáng, hán jué rù wèi, xīn tòng yāo tòng, fù dà, yì gān zhǒng shàng.
All these, the governance of lesser yin governing the heaven: the qi transformation runs ahead of heaven. The qi of earth is austere, the qi of heaven bright; cold and summer heat alternate; heat adds to dryness; clouds gallop to the rain storehouse; the damp transformation moves; seasonal rain falls; metal and fire join in virtue; above it answers to Mars and Venus. Its governance is bright, its command pressing; its grain is the cinnabar and the white. Water and fire, cold and heat, hold at the junction of qi, and there disease begins. Heat disease arises above, cool disease below, and cold and heat invade and contend in the middle. The people are ill with coughing and panting, blood spilling and blood pouring, snivelling and sneezing with red eyes, sores at the eye corners, cold reversal entering the stomach, heart pain and low back pain, a great belly, a dry throat and swelling above.
**「太白」本篇2見,二見:陽明司天與少陰司天**;**此段「上應熒惑、太白」,太白主燥金**

Compounds built on this term

歲金
suì jīn
the year of metal
本篇2見;歲金太過、歲金不及
燥氣
zào qì
the qi of dryness
本篇1見;燥氣流行、燥爍以行
肅殺
sù shā
the austere killing
本篇4見;肅殺而甚、秋有肅殺霖霪之復
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 siteVenusliteral from the planet named; the chapter needs a star that answers to metal, and 太白 is that star
Transliterationtai baihow the name is written in discussions of the five circuits; right about the referent, and it loses the west
Descriptivethe planet of metalexact, and it gives the phase rather than the body; the chapter's own name gives the colour, which is the west's

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2026-10-08

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