Classica Sinica Medica

五風 简体 五风

wǔ fēng

The five winds · wu feng

Also rendered: The five winds (this site; kept plural and literal, because the chapter is counting winds and not naming a disease) · Wu feng (transliteration; used when the five are quoted beside the eight)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-10

At a glance

Pinyin
wǔ fēng
Simplified
五风
Literal
五 wǔ — five (《說文》: 五，五行也：the number of the five phases, written as the crossing of heaven and earth); 風 fēng — wind (《說文》: 風，八風也：the winds of the eight directions). The five winds are the winds that belong to the five viscera — the wind of the liver, the heart, the spleen, the lung, the kidney — and the chapter sets them against the eight winds of heaven in its very first question: heaven has eight winds, the channels have five winds. Wang Bing says it in four graphs: 五風，五藏之風也 — the five winds are the winds of the five viscera.
Shuowen
**「五」讀 wǔ，本篇7見**；**「風」讀 fēng，本篇11見**；**「五風」本篇1見**；**《說文》：五，五行也；風，八風也**；**王冰注：五風，五藏之風也**；**「八風」本篇2見，見本站第四八〇條**

In brief

The winds of the five viscera, by contrast with the eight winds of the directions. Suwen 4 opens with the contrast: heaven has eight winds, the channels have five winds. The eight belong to the quarters of the sky and come from outside; the five belong to the viscera and are what those eight become once they have entered — 八風發邪，以爲經風，觸五藏。The chapter never names the five one by one, and it does not need to: it had already given each viscus its quarter, its colour, its orifice and its number, and the five winds are those five, moved.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 五風
五藏之風也，王冰之說
天有八風，經有五風 — Suwen 4
2
What they are set against 天有八風
八方之風自外而來，五藏之風自內而應
天有八風，經有五風，何謂 — Suwen 4
3
Where they live 經有五風
五風在經，經者五藏之道路
經有五風 — Suwen 4
4
How they arrive 八風發邪，以爲經風
八風之邪入而為經風，經風觸藏而為五風
八風發邪，以爲經風，觸五藏 — Suwen 4
5
What they reach 觸五藏
五風之邪所觸，即五藏也
觸五藏，邪氣發病 — Suwen 4
6
What they bring 邪氣發病
風邪既觸，病由是生
邪氣發病 — Suwen 4

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·金匱真言論 Suwen 4 · 金匱真言論 Read in context →
黃帝問曰：天有八風，經有五風，何謂？歧伯對曰：八風發邪，以爲經風，觸五藏，邪氣發病。 黄帝问曰：天有八风，经有五风，何谓？歧伯对曰：八风发邪，以为经风，触五藏，邪气发病。
huáng dì wèn yuē: tiān yǒu bā fēng, jīng yǒu wǔ fēng, hé wèi? qí bó duì yuē: bā fēng fā xié, yǐ wéi jīng fēng, chù wǔ zàng, xié qì fā bìng.
The Yellow Emperor asks: heaven has eight winds, the channels have five winds — what does this mean? Qi Bo replies: the eight winds give off evil; becoming the wind of the channels, it touches the five viscera, and the evil qi brings forth disease.
**「五風」本篇1見**；**「八風」本篇2見，見本站第四八〇條**；**「經風」本篇1見，見本站新目**；**「五藏」本篇5見，見本站第二二九條**

Compounds built on this term

天有八風
tiān yǒu bā fēng
heaven has eight winds
本篇1見
經有五風
jīng yǒu wǔ fēng
the channels have five winds
本篇1見
八風發邪
bā fēng fā xié
the eight winds give off evil
本篇1見
觸五藏
chù wǔ zàng
it touches the five viscera
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 siteThe five winds · wu fengthe number is kept: five viscera, five winds, by contrast with eight directions
Literalthe five windsplain, and it keeps the contrast with the eight winds visible
Explanatorythe winds of the five visceraWang Bing's gloss; clearer, but it loses the word the chapter actually uses

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-10

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Reading path

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