Classica Sinica Medica

環死 简体 环死

huán sǐ

Death within one circuit · huan si

Also rendered: death within one circuit (Literal; keeps 環 as a going round) · death within a day (The commentary reading) · immediate death (Reads 環 as 還)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
huán sǐ
Simplified
环死
Literal
環 a disc of jade, and so a ring, a circuit (《說文》: 璧也); 死 to die (《說文》: 澌也 — spent, finished). To die within one going-round.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：環，璧也（段注：引申為環繞、周回；一說「環」通「還」，謂頃刻）；死，澌也（段注：人所離也，引申為盡）。

In brief

The shortest of the chapter’s death sentences and the worst: 中心者，環死. Strike the heart and the person dies within one circuit, which the commentary tradition takes as a single day, the qi going round once. It sits among intervals counted in days — five for the spleen and the lung, seven for the kidney, a year for the diaphragm. The chapter is doing arithmetic on dying, and 環 is its smallest unit.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Death within one circuit 中心者，環死
王冰：「環，謂一周時也。」
中心者，環死 — Suwen 16
2
The smallest of the chapter's intervals 五日死、七日死、一歲必死
環死最短，中鬲者最緩
中脾者，五日死 — Suwen 16
3
A second reading: straightaway 環
一說「環」通「還」，謂頃刻即死。二說並存
中心者，環死 — Suwen 16

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·診要經終論 Suwen 16 · 診要經終論 Read in context →
凡刺胸腹者，必避五藏。中心者，環死。中脾者，五日死。中腎者，七日死。中肺者，五日死。中鬲者，皆爲傷中，其病雖愈，不過一歲必死。 凡刺胸腹者，必避五藏。中心者，环死。中脾者，五日死。中肾者，七日死。中肺者，五日死。中鬲者，皆为伤中，其病虽愈，不过一岁必死。
fán cì xiōng fù zhě, bì bì wǔ zàng. zhòng xīn zhě, huán sǐ. zhòng pí zhě, wǔ rì sǐ. zhòng shèn zhě, qī rì sǐ. zhòng fèi zhě, wǔ rì sǐ. zhòng gé zhě, jiē wéi shāng zhōng, qí bìng suī yù, bù guò yī suì bì sǐ.
Whenever one needles the chest or abdomen, one must avoid the five depots. Striking the heart means death within one circuit. Striking the spleen means death in five days. Striking the kidney means death in seven days. Striking the lung means death in five days. Striking the diaphragm is always a wound to the interior: even if the illness appears to mend, the person will certainly die within a year.
本篇「凡刺胸腹者，必避五藏。中心者，環死。中脾者，五日死。中腎者，七日死。中肺者，五日死。中鬲者，皆爲傷中，其病雖愈，不過一歲必死」。中音 zhòng，謂誤中。環，王冰：「謂一周時也」；一說環通「還」，謂頃刻。二說並存。

Compounds built on this term

環
huán
a ring; a circuit
說文：璧也；一說通「還」
死
sǐ
to die
說文：澌也
中
zhòng
to strike, to hit
本篇「中心者」之中，音 zhòng
五藏
wǔ zàng
the five depots
本篇「凡刺胸腹者，必避五藏」
鬲
gé
the diaphragm
本篇「中鬲者」，不過一歲必死

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishdeath within a day, or immediate deathMost translations follow the commentary and give a number.
This sitedeath within one circuit環 is a jade disc — a closed ring — and the chapter's own word for what happens is a going round. Giving the commentary's one day is probably right in sense, but it replaces a word about the shape of the event with a word about its length, and this chapter is full of lengths: it can say five days when it means five days. Immediate loses the ring altogether.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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