Classica Sinica Medica

石水

shí shuǐ

Stone water

Also rendered: stony oedema (The clinical rendering) · shi shui (Pinyin)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
shí shuǐ
Simplified
石水
Literal
石 stone; 水 water. Water gathered until it is hard.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：石，山石也；水，準也。

In brief

In the seventh chapter, what yin and yang produce when they knot awry and there is much yin and little yang: stone water, and the lower abdomen swells. The name is a diagnosis in two words — a swelling below that has gone hard, because the yang that should move the water is not there to move it.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
A hard swelling of the lower abdomen 石水
Knotted yin and yang, with yin abundant and yang scant
曰石水，少腹腫 — Suwen 7

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·陰陽别論 Suwen 7 · 陰陽别論 Read in context →
曰石水，少腹腫。 曰石水，少腹肿。
yuē shí shuǐ, shào fù zhǒng.
It is called stone water, and the lower abdomen swells.
「多陰少陽」之「少」讀 shǎo，謂陽氣不足，非少陽經之名；陰多陽少則水聚而硬，故曰石水。底本「多陰」下作句讀，詳校勘表。
素問·大奇論 Suwen 48 · 大奇論 Read in context →
腎肝并沈，爲石水。并浮，爲風水。并虚，爲死。并小絃，欲驚。 肾肝并沉，为石水。并浮，为风水。并虚，为死。并小弦，欲惊。
Shèn gān bìng chén, wéi shí shuǐ. Bìng fú, wéi fēng shuǐ. Bìng xū, wéi sǐ. Bìng xiǎo xián, yù jīng.
When the kidney and liver vessels are both sunken it is stone water. Both floating, wind water. Both empty, it is death. Both small and string-like, the person is about to startle.
「「腎」讀 shèn肝并「沈」讀 chén，爲石水」——**本篇「石水」1見**；「沈」讀 chén、**本篇8見，皆讀 chén**；**「并浮，爲風水」「并虚，爲死」三句連屬，同一「并」字而所主之病三變，「并」讀 bìng本篇5見**。

Compounds built on this term

少腹腫
shào fù zhǒng
swelling of the lower abdomen
The sign the chapter gives for stone water
結斜
jié xié
knotted awry
The knotting that produces it; 斜 is read as 邪

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishstone waterStandard; sometimes 'stony oedema' in clinical writing.
This sitestone waterLeft as the chapter gives it: the hardness is the point, and 'oedema' would make it a modern diagnosis rather than the chapter's name.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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