Classica Sinica Medica

去宛陳莝 简体 去宛陈莝

qù wǎn chén cuò

Remove the stasis, cut the old

Also rendered: remove the accumulated and cut away the old (Literal, both verbs) · drain the stagnant and clear the old (Clinical paraphrase) · remove stasis (Modern TCM shorthand; loses the agriculture)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
qù wǎn chén cuò
Simplified
去宛陈莝
Literal
去 to remove; 宛 curled up, accumulated (《說文》: 屈草自覆也 — grass bent over covering itself, and so what is coiled and held in); 陳 old, long-standing; 莝 chopped fodder (《說文》: 斬芻也). Four words in two pairs: remove what has curled up, cut what has stood too long.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：宛，屈草自覆也（段注：引申為屈曲、藴積）；陳，宛丘，舜後媯滿之所封（段注：引申為陳列、陳久）；莝，斬芻也（段注：謂以鈇斬斷之芻）；去，人相違也。

In brief

The first instruction in the treatment of oedema, and the ancestor of every later Chinese formula for removing stasis. Wang Bing takes the four words as one operation on water that has stood too long in the body; Zhang Jiebin reads them word by word — 宛 is accumulation, 陳 is long-standing, 莝 is cutting grass. This site keeps the agricultural image, because the chapter opened with rice and rice straw and ends by cutting fodder inside the body.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
To remove what has accumulated 去宛
王冰以「宛」為積；一說讀 yù、通「鬱」
去宛陳莝 — Suwen 14
2
To cut away what is long-standing 陳莝
張介賓《類經》：「陳，久也；莝，斬草也。」
去宛陳莝 — Suwen 14
3
One operation, not two 去宛陳莝
王冰：「謂去積久之水物。」如水之流、如草之刈
平治於權衡。去宛陳莝 — Suwen 14

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·湯液醪醴論 Suwen 14 · 湯液醪醴論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：平治於權衡。去宛陳莝，微動四極，温衣繆剌其處，以復其形。開鬼門，潔淨府，精以時服。五陽已布，疏滌五藏，故精自生，形自盛，骨肉相保，巨氣乃平。 岐伯曰：平治于权衡。去宛陈莝，微动四极，温衣缪刺其处，以复其形。开鬼门，洁净府，精以时服。五阳已布，疏涤五藏，故精自生，形自盛，骨肉相保，巨气乃平。
qí bó yuē: píng zhì yú quán héng. qù wǎn chén cuò, wēi dòng sì jí, wēn yī miù cì qí chù, yǐ fù qí xíng. kāi guǐ mén, jié jìng fǔ, jīng yǐ shí fú. wǔ yáng yǐ bù, shū dí wǔ zàng, gù jīng zì shēng, xíng zì shèng, gǔ ròu xiāng bǎo, jù qì nǎi píng.
Qibo says: level it by weighing. Remove the stasis and cut away the old, stir the four extremities gently, warm the clothing, and needle the place by contralateral puncture, so as to restore the frame. Open the ghost gate, clean the pure storehouse, and the essence will be taken up in season. Once the five yang have been distributed and the five storing organs flushed, the essence generates itself, the frame fills itself, bone and flesh keep one another, and the great qi is at last level.
王冰：「去宛陳莝，謂去積久之水物。」張介賓《類經》：「宛，積也；陳，久也；莝，斬草也。謂去其水氣之陳積，如斬草然。」一說「宛」讀 yù、通「鬱（鬱積）」；一說「莝」當作「剉」。諸說並存，本站从王冰、張介賓之訓。

Compounds built on this term

去
qù
to remove
說文：人相違也
宛
wǎn
curled up, accumulated
說文：屈草自覆也；一說讀 yù、通「鬱」
陳
chén
old, long-standing
說文：宛丘也；段注：引申為陳列、陳久
莝
cuò
chopped fodder
說文：斬芻也；一說「莝」當作「剉」
去菀陳莝
qù wǎn chén cuò
the same phrase with 菀
一本作「菀」，與「宛」通用

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishremove the old stagnation, or remove blood stasisModern readings hear 瘀血 in the phrase and translate accordingly.
This siteremove the stasis, cut the oldThe text is about water, not blood, and the image is agricultural: something has stood and accumulated and is to be cut down like fodder. Stasis keeps the sense of standing still without importing 血, and cut the old keeps 莝, which is the word that connects this prescription back to the rice straw the chapter began with.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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