粗工

cū gōng

The coarse workman

Also rendered: the coarse workman (Literal; keeps 工 as a craft word) · the inferior physician (Smoother; loses the artisan sense of 工) · the bungler (Too strong; 粗 is coarseness, not incompetence)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: cū gōng
Simplified: 粗工
Literal: 粗 coarse, rough, unrefined — of grain, of cloth, of work; 工 the workman, the artisan, and throughout the Inner Canon the ordinary word for the physician. A coarse physician is not an ignorant one but a crude one: the craft is there, the finish is not.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：粗，疏也（段注：引申為粗略、粗大）；工，巧飾也（段注：引申為工事、工匠，凡善其事者曰工）。

In brief

The villain of the chapter. The coarse workman does not begin treatment until the illness has already taken a shape, does not root his treatment in the four seasons, does not know sun and moon, does not examine what follows and what goes against — and then blusters that the case can still be attacked. Wang Bing glosses the blustering: 兇兇 means not considering whether a thing is possible. His illustration is a starving man fed to repletion: the fault is not in the food but in the timing and the measure. The old illness has not ended before a new one has begun.

Senses in the classical corpus

The physician who waits too long 病形已成，乃欲微鍼治其外

王冰：「言心意粗略，不精審也。」

病形已成，乃欲微鍼治其外，湯液治其内 — Suwen 13

Blustering and attacking 粗工兇兇，以爲可攻

王冰：「兇兇，謂不料事宜之可否也」

粗工兇兇，以爲可攻 — Suwen 13

The cause of new disease 故病未已，新病復起

王冰以飢人極飽為喻：「豈其與食而為惡邪？蓋為失時復過節也。」

故病未已，新病復起 — Suwen 13

Whom one must leave 去故就新

王冰：「當去故逆理之人，就新明悟之士。」

去故就新，乃得真人 — Suwen 13

Occurrences in the classics

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

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3 passages

素問·移精變氣論 Suwen 13 · 移精變氣論 Read in context →

暮世之治病也則不然。治不本四時，不知日月，不審逆從，病形已成，乃欲微鍼治其外，湯液治其内，粗工兇兇，以爲可攻，故病未已，新病復起。暮世之治病也则不然。治不本四时，不知日月，不审逆从，病形已成，乃欲微针治其外，汤液治其内，粗工凶凶，以为可攻，故病未已，新病复起。

mù shì zhī zhì bìng yě zé bù rán. zhì bù běn sì shí, bù zhī rì yuè, bù shěn nì cóng, bìng xíng yǐ chéng, nǎi yù wēi zhēn zhì qí wài, tāng yè zhì qí nèi, cū gōng xiōng xiōng, yǐ wéi kě gōng, gù bìng wèi yǐ, xīn bìng fù qǐ.

The physicians of the late age are not like that. Their treatment is not rooted in the four seasons; they do not know sun and moon; they do not examine what follows and what goes against. Only when the disease has already taken shape do they want to treat the outside with the fine needle and the inside with decoctions. The coarse workman blusters and thinks it can still be attacked — so the old illness has not ended before a new one starts.

王冰：「治不本四時……是反古也。」又：「不知日月者，謂日有寒溫明暗，月有空滿虧盈也。」又：「粗，謂粗略也。兇兇，謂不料事宜之可否也。何以言之？假令飢人，形氣羸劣，食令極飽，能不霍乎！豈其與食而為惡邪？蓋為失時復過節也。非病逆，鍼石湯液，失時過節，則其害反增矣。」新校正云：「按別本『霍』一作『害』。」

素問·寶命全形論 Suwen 25 · 寶命全形論 Read in context →

今末世之剌也，虚者實之，滿者泄之，此皆衆工所共知也。今末世之刺也，虚者实之，满者泄之，此皆众工所共知也。

Jīn mò shì zhī cì yě, xū zhě shí zhī, mǎn zhě xiè zhī, cǐ jiē zhòng gōng suǒ gòng zhī yě.

The puncturing of this latter age is simply: fill what is empty, drain what is full. These are things that all the common workmen know together.

「今末世之剌也，虚者實之，滿者泄之，此皆衆工所共知也」：本篇之「衆工」，與本站「粗工」之目正相對——粗工言其術之劣，衆工言其人之眾；術劣者少，而知止於補瀉者眾。與第十四篇「粗工凶凶，以為可攻」者同條而義別：彼論粗工之不知而妄攻，本篇則言衆工之所知者止於補瀉，而不知治神、不知法天則地。「剌」讀 cì；「衆」讀 zhòng；「滿」讀 mǎn。

Suwen 74 Suwen 74 · 至真要大論 Read in context →

故大要曰：粗工嘻嘻，以爲可知，言熱未已，寒病復始，同氣異形，迷診亂經，此之謂也。夫標本之道，要而博，小而大，可以言一，而知百病之害。言標與本，易而勿損。察本與標，氣可令調，明知勝復，爲萬民式，天之道畢矣。故大要曰：粗工嘻嘻，以为可知，言热未已，寒病复始，同气异形，迷诊乱经，此之谓也。夫标本之道，要而博，小而大，可以言一，而知百病之害。言标与本，易而勿损。察本与标，气可令调，明知胜复，为万民式，天之道毕矣。

Gù dà yào yuē: cū gōng xī xī, yǐ wéi kě zhī, yán rè wèi yǐ, hán bìng fù shǐ, tóng qì yì xíng, mí zhěn luàn jīng, cǐ zhī wèi yě. Fú biāo běn zhī dào, yào ér bó, xiǎo ér dà, kě yǐ yán yī, ér zhī bǎi bìng zhī hài. Yán biāo yǔ běn, yì ér wù sǔn. Chá běn yǔ biāo, qì kě lìng tiáo, míng zhī shèng fù, wéi wàn mín shì, tiān zhī dào bì yǐ.

Hence the Great Essentials says: the coarse workman giggles and thinks he knows; before he has done speaking of heat the cold illness begins again — the same qi in different forms, a puzzled diagnosis and a confused canon; this is what is meant. As for the way of tip and root, it is essential yet broad, small yet great: one may speak of one and know the harm of the hundred illnesses. To speak of tip and root is easy and does no harm. To examine root and tip, the qi can be made harmonious, and to know prevalence and revenge clearly is a model for all the people; the way of heaven is complete.

**「粗工」本篇1見，止在此句**；**此段「粗工嘻嘻，以爲可知」，全篇引《大要》以責粗工**

Compounds built on this term

粗

cū

coarse, rough

說文：疏也

工

gōng

the workman, the physician

說文：巧飾也；醫籍為醫者之通稱

兇兇

xiōng xiōng

blustering, heedless

王冰：「不料事宜之可否也。」底本作「兇兇」，通行本作「凶凶」

上工

shàng gōng

the superior workman

《靈樞》「上工治未病」，與粗工對舉

How it has been translated

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

Common English	the inferior physician	Almost universal, and it reads well.
This site	the coarse workman	工 is the artisan's word, and this chapter is grading a craft, not a profession — it sets 粗工 against the 真人 one should go and find. Physician imports a licensed social role that the Han text does not have; workman keeps the reader inside the workshop, where competence is measured by finish and timing rather than by rank.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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