寒變简体寒变

hán biàn

Cold change · han bian

Also rendered: The cold turn (this site; it keeps 變 as a turning rather than a difference, which is how the chapter uses it) · Han bian (transliteration; used in lists of the four penalties)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-09

At a glance

Pinyin: hán biàn
Simplified: 寒变
Literal: 寒 hán — cold (《說文》: 寒，凍也); 變 biàn — change, alteration (《說文》: 變，更也). 寒變 is the illness of a summer that has no heat behind it: the spring's store was never laid down, so the summer's growth has nothing to grow on and the complaint that comes is a cold one. Yu Chang, in 醫門法律, makes it the general name for illness contracted in the summer months: 夏月得病之總名, and traces it to the liver failing to feed the heart, so that the heart's fire is weak in the season that is its own.
Shuowen: **「寒」讀 hán，本篇2見**；**「變」讀 biàn，本篇2見**；**「寒變」本篇1見**；**《說文》：寒，凍也；變，更也**；**喻昌《醫門法律》：夏月得病之總名**

In brief

The illness that follows from failing to keep the rule for spring, and the first of the four penalties Suwen 2 names. It is the only one of the four with a name of its own; the other three borrow names that already exist (痎瘧, 飱泄, 痿厥). The mechanism the chapter gives is short: against the qi of spring, the liver is harmed, and what should have been handed on to summer’s growth is too little — so the summer illness is a cold one.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 寒變

寒者凍也，變者更也；寒變謂變而為寒

逆之則傷肝，夏爲寒變 — Suwen 2

The penalty for spring 逆之則傷肝

逆春生之氣，肝先受之

逆之則傷肝，夏爲寒變，奉長者少 — Suwen 2

Why it is a cold illness 奉長者少

春無所奉，故夏無所長

夏爲寒變，奉長者少 — Suwen 2

The general name for summer illness 夏月得病之總名

喻昌之說，推而廣之

夏爲寒變 — Suwen 2

The heart's fire unfed 肝木弗榮，不能生其心火

喻昌推其理如此

夏爲寒變，奉長者少 — Suwen 2

One of four penalties 夏爲寒變、秋爲痎瘧、冬爲飱泄、春爲痿厥

四時之逆，各有其病

逆之則傷肝，夏爲寒變 — Suwen 2

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

1 passages

素問·四氣調神大論 Suwen 2 · 四氣調神大論 Read in context →

春三月，此謂發陳，天地俱生，萬物以榮。夜卧早起，廣步於庭，被髮緩形，以使志生。生而勿殺，予而勿奪，賞而勿罰，此春氣之應，養生之道也。逆之則傷肝，夏爲寒變，奉長者少。春三月，此谓发陈，天地俱生，万物以荣。夜卧早起，广步于庭，被发缓形，以使志生。生而勿杀，予而勿夺，赏而勿罚，此春气之应，养生之道也。逆之则伤肝，夏为寒变，奉长者少。

Chūn sān yuè, cǐ wèi fā chén, tiān dì jù shēng, wàn wù yǐ róng. yè wò zǎo qǐ, guǎng bù yú tíng, pī fà huǎn xíng, yǐ shǐ zhì shēng. shēng ér wù shā, yǔ ér wù duó, shǎng ér wù fá, cǐ chūn qì zhī yìng, yǎng shēng zhī dào yě. nì zhī zé shāng gān, xià wéi hán biàn, fèng zhǎng zhě shǎo.

The three months of spring are called the bringing forth of what was stored. Heaven and earth are both giving birth; the ten thousand things are in bloom. Sleep at night and rise early, walk with a wide stride in the courtyard, let the hair down and slacken the body, so that the will comes to life. Let things live and do not kill; give and do not take away; reward and do not punish. This is the answer to the qi of spring, and it is the way of nourishing life. Going against it harms the liver; in summer there is a cold change, and there is little to hand on to what must grow.

**「寒變」本篇1見**；**本篇四逆之病，惟寒變自為之名，餘三者皆因舊名**；**「奉長者少」之長讀 zhǎng**

Compounds built on this term

逆之則傷肝

nì zhī zé shāng gān

going against it harms the liver

本篇1見

奉長者少

fèng zhǎng zhě shǎo

little to hand on to what grows

本篇1見

秋爲痎瘧

qiū wéi jiē nüè

in autumn, jie malaria

本篇1見

春爲痿厥

chūn wéi wěi jué

in spring, flaccidity and inversion

本篇1見

How it has been translated

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

This site	Cold change · han bian	變 is the turning of a thing into its opposite, and that is exactly what a summer cold is
Literal	becoming cold	nearest to the graphs; loses the sense that this is an illness and not a temperature
Descriptive	summer cold disorder	the clinical reading, following Yu Chang; useful, but it drops 變 altogether

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-09

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