太谿简体太溪

tài xī

Taixi · the great ravine

Also rendered: Taixi (this site; the pulse name as the tradition has it, and the one used wherever the kidney channel's source is listed) · The great ravine (a rendering of the two graphs, used in the definition but not as a name)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin: tài xī
Simplified: 太溪
Literal: 太 tài — the great; 谿 xī — a mountain stream, the ravine a stream runs in (《說文》: 谿，山瀆无所通者). 太谿 is the great ravine: the pulse behind the inner ankle, in the hollow between the malleolus and the heel, where the kidney channel's qi issues — the source of the kidney channel. In Suwen 69 it is the pulse that decides death when earth is in surplus, because earth in surplus strikes water, and water's channel is the kidney's. The chapter writes the graph 谿, not the 溪 it writes elsewhere for the same word.
Shuowen: **「太」讀 tài，本篇26見**；**「谿」讀 xī，本篇2見，皆在「太谿」「谿谷」二詞內**；**《說文》：谿，山瀆无所通者；山谷之流也**；**「太谿」本篇1見，止在此句**；**本篇「谿谷」1見作「谿」，與第二十七段「谿谷踹膝」同字**；**「太谿」與「太息」同讀 tài xī 而異詞；本篇無「太息」，有「善大息」，見第十七段**

In brief

The pulse behind the inner ankle where the kidney channel’s qi issues, and the pulse this chapter takes when the earth circuit is in surplus: 歲土太過，雨濕流行，腎水受邪 — earth in surplus strikes the water of the kidney — and so it is 太谿, the kidney’s pulse, whose stopping means death. The name is the hollow it is taken in. The chapter’s own spelling is 谿, the graph it uses for a ravine throughout; the same word is often written 溪, and the two are one name, not two places.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 太谿

太者大也，谿者山谷之流；脈處谿間，故名

反下甚而太谿絶者，死不治 — Suwen 69

The place 太谿

内踝之後，跟骨之上，腎脈之所注

歲土太過，雨濕流行，腎水受邪 — Suwen 69

The rule 腎水受邪，取腎之脈

所勝之藏受邪，即取該藏之脈

太谿絶者，死不治 — Suwen 69

What 絶 means 太谿絶者

絶者脈絶不至，非斷絶之義

反下甚而太谿絶者 — Suwen 69

The verdict 死不治

五脈之絶，皆斷以死不治

死不治 — Suwen 69

With the star 上應歲星

土太過則歲星應之，末又見歲星，木來復之

上應歲星 — Suwen 69

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

1 passages

Suwen 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →

歲土太過，雨濕流行，腎水受邪。民病腹痛，清厥意不樂，體重煩冤。上應鎮星。甚則肌肉萎，足痿不收，行善瘈，腳下痛，飲發，中滿食減，四支不舉。變生得位，藏氣伏，化氣獨治之，泉涌河衍，涸澤生魚，風雨大至，土崩潰，鱗見于陸。病腹滿溏泄，腸鳴，反下甚而太谿絶者，死不治。上應歲星。岁土太过，雨湿流行，肾水受邪。民病腹痛，清厥意不乐，体重烦冤。上应镇星。甚则肌肉萎，足痿不收，行善瘈，脚下痛，饮发，中满食减，四支不举。变生得位，藏气伏，化气独治之，泉涌河衍，涸泽生鱼，风雨大至，土崩溃，鳞见于陆。病腹满溏泄，肠鸣，反下甚而太溪绝者，死不治。上应岁星。

Suì tǔ tài guò, yǔ shī liú xíng, shèn shuǐ shòu xié. Mín bìng fù tòng, qīng jué yì bù lè, tǐ zhòng fán yuān. Shàng yìng zhèn xīng. Shèn zé jī ròu wěi, zú wěi bù shōu, xíng shàn chì, jiǎo xià tòng, yǐn fā, zhōng mǎn shí jiǎn, sì zhī bù jǔ. Biàn shēng dé wèi, zàng qì fú, huà qì dú zhì zhī, quán yǒng hé yǎn, hé zé shēng yú, fēng yǔ dà zhì, tǔ bēng kuì, lín xiàn yú lù. Bìng fù mǎn táng xiè, cháng míng, fǎn xià shèn ér tài xī jué zhě, sǐ bù zhì. Shàng yìng suì xīng.

In a year of earth in surplus, rain and dampness spread and move and the water of the kidney receives evil. The people are ill with pain in the abdomen, clear counterflow and a mind that takes no pleasure, a heavy body and freting oppression; it answers above to Saturn. If it is severe, the flesh wastes, the feet are limp and cannot be drawn up, walking brings twitching, there is pain under the foot, rheum breaks out, the centre is full and eating diminishes, and the four limbs cannot be lifted. Change arises when it holds its place: the qi of storage lies hidden and the qi of transformation governs alone, springs gush and rivers overflow, dried-up marshes bring forth fish, wind and rain arrive in force, the earth crumbles and collapses, and scaled creatures are seen on land. The illness is fullness of the abdomen, sloppy diarrhoea and rumbling in the bowels; if it turns worse below and Taixi is cut off, there is death and no cure; it answers above to Jupiter.

**「太谿」本篇1見，止此一句**；**「歲土太過」是十表之第三：土太過則雨濕行，腎水受邪，故取腎之太谿**；**「鱗見于陸」之「見」讀 xiàn，「于」是底本之字，本篇「于」1見**；**「溏泄」本篇3見；「病腹滿溏泄」亦見於第十段**；**「腳下痛」之「腳」底本作「腳」，本篇2見，來稿作簡體「脚」，已還原**

Compounds built on this term

谿谷

xī gǔ

ravines and valleys

本篇1見；外在谿谷踹膝

絶

jué

cut off; ceased

本篇5見，五脈之絶皆此字，底本作「絶」

腎水

shèn shuǐ

the water of the kidney

本篇1見；腎水受邪

死不治

sǐ bù zhì

death and no cure

本篇5見，五脈之文皆以此四字收束

How it has been translated

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

This site	Taixi	the name this site uses for the pulse and the point; the chapter calls it 太谿 and means the pulse
Transliteration	tai xi	how the name appears wherever the kidney channel's source point is listed, often written with the other graph for the same word
Descriptive	the pulse in the hollow of the ankle	exact about the place, and it drops the ravine that gives the pulse its name

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