Classica Sinica Medica

開闔樞 简体 开阖枢

kāi hé shū

The open, the closed and the pivot

Also rendered: open, closed, pivot (The plain rendering) · opening, closing, hinge (Reads the three as actions rather than offices)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
kāi hé shū
Simplified
开阖枢
Literal
A door: 開 to open it, 闔 the leaf that closes it, 樞 the pivot it turns on.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：開，張也；闔，門扇也；樞，戶樞也。

In brief

The three offices by which the six channels are ordered. Yang: greater yang opens, yang brightness closes, lesser yang pivots. Yin: greater yin opens, ceasing yin closes, lesser yin pivots. The image is a door — one leaf swings out, one leaf shuts, and the hinge is what makes the two a single moving thing.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The three offices of the channels 開闔樞
Open, closed and pivot: how the three channels of each set belong together
Open, closed and pivot: how the three channels of each set belong together
太陽爲開，陽明爲闔，少陽爲樞 — 素問·陰陽離合論
2
The door the words come from 開／闔／樞
To open, the door leaf, the hinge — the concrete sense behind the offices
To open, the door leaf, the hinge — the concrete sense behind the offices
— — 說文

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·陰陽離合論 Read in context →
是故三陽之離合也，太陽爲開，陽明爲闔，少陽爲樞。 是故三阳之离合也，太阳为开，阳明为阖，少阳为枢。
shì gù sān yáng zhī lí hé yě, tài yáng wéi kāi, yáng míng wéi hé, shào yáng wéi shū.
Thus, as to the parting and coupling of the three yang: the greater yang is the open, the yang brightness is the closed, and the lesser yang is the pivot.
三陽之開闔樞見此，三陰之開闔樞見下文（太陰為開、厥陰為闔、少陰為樞），二處對讀方見門戶之喻。

Compounds built on this term

太陽爲開
tài yáng wéi kāi
greater yang is the open
Its office
陽明爲闔
yáng míng wéi hé
yang brightness is the closed
Its office
少陽爲樞
shào yáng wéi shū
lesser yang is the pivot
Its office
太陰爲開
tài yīn wéi kāi
greater yin is the open
Its office
厥陰爲闔
jué yīn wéi hé
ceasing yin is the closed
Its office
少陰爲樞
shào yīn wéi shū
lesser yin is the pivot
Its office

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishopen, closed, pivotStandard in English writing on the six channels.
This sitethe open, the closed and the pivotNouns, so the three read as offices a channel holds, and so the door behind the words stays in view.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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