Classica Sinica Medica

毛

máo

The hair quality · mao

Also rendered: the hair quality (Literal) · hairy (Wrong in English; avoided) · feather-like (Closer to the English image, but 毛 is not the feather) · floating and light (Descriptive of the feel)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
máo
Simplified
毛
Literal
毛 hair, feather, down (《說文》: 眉髮之屬及獸毛也). A pulse that is light and floating, felt on the surface and gone when pressed — the way a hair lies on the skin.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：毛，眉髮之屬及獸毛也（段注：引申為凡輕細之物）。

In brief

The autumn quality of the pulse. Chapter 18 gives it in the same frame as the rest: 秋胃微毛，曰平 — slightly hair-like with stomach qi in it is balanced; hair much and stomach qi little is lung disease; hair alone without stomach qi is death; and hair carrying string in it foretells illness in spring. The dying lung pulse at the end of the chapter is the same quality taken to its end: 如物之浮，如風吹毛, like a thing afloat, like hair blown on the wind — lightness that has lost its root.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The autumn quality, with stomach qi 秋胃微毛，曰平
微毛而有胃氣者為平脈
秋胃微毛，曰平 — Suwen 18
2
Too much of it 毛多胃少，曰肺病
毛多而胃少者病在肺
毛多胃少，曰肺病 — Suwen 18
3
It alone, with no stomach qi 但毛无胃，曰死
但有毛而無胃氣者死
但毛无胃，曰死 — Suwen 18
4
Found inside another season's pulse 胃而有毛曰秋病
春脈見毛，至秋而病
胃而有毛曰秋病，毛甚曰今病 — Suwen 18
5
The image at its end 如物之浮，如風吹毛
死肺脈浮而無根
死肺脉來，如物之浮，如風吹毛，曰肺死 — Suwen 18

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
4 passages
素問·平人氣象論 Suwen 18 · 平人氣象論 Read in context →
秋胃微毛，曰平；毛多胃少，曰肺病；但毛无胃，曰死，毛而有弦，曰春病，弦甚曰今病。藏真高於肺，以行榮衛陰陽也。 秋胃微毛，曰平；毛多胃少，曰肺病；但毛无胃，曰死，毛而有弦，曰春病，弦甚曰今病。脏真高于肺，以行荣卫阴阳也。
qiū wèi wēi máo, yuē píng; máo duō wèi shǎo, yuē fèi bìng; dàn máo wú wèi, yuē sǐ, máo ér yǒu xián, yuē chūn bìng, xián shèn yuē jīn bìng. zàng zhēn gāo yú fèi, yǐ xíng róng wèi yīn yáng yě.
In autumn, a pulse with stomach qi and slight hair is called balanced; if the hair is much and the stomach qi little, it is lung disease; if there is nothing but hair and no stomach qi, it is death; if the hair carries string in it, disease is foretold for spring; if the string is pronounced, the disease is present now. The true qi of the depots is high in the lung, and by it the lung moves the construction and defence and the yin and yang.
本篇秋脈之例：秋胃微毛曰平，毛多胃少曰肺病，但毛无胃曰死；春脈見毛則曰秋病。末段死肺脈「如物之浮，如風吹毛」，與肺平脈「厭厭聶聶，如落榆莢」對看，一輕而有根，一輕而無根。
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝曰：何如而反？歧伯曰：其氣來，毛而中央堅，兩傍虚，此謂太過，病在外；其氣來，毛而微，此謂不及，病在中。 帝曰：何如而反？歧伯曰：其气来，毛而中央坚，两旁虚，此谓太过，病在外；其气来，毛而微，此谓不及，病在中。
Dì yuē: hé rú ér fǎn? Qí bó yuē: qí qì lái, máo ér zhōng yāng jiān, liǎng bàng xū, cǐ wèi tài guò, bìng zài wài; qí qì lái, máo ér wēi, cǐ wèi bù jí, bìng zài zhōng.
Arriving hairy, hard in the centre and empty at both sides, is excess, and the disease is in the exterior. Arriving hairy and faint is deficiency, and the disease is in the interior.
「其氣來，毛而中央堅，兩傍虚，此謂太過，病在外；其氣來，毛而微，此謂不及」：本篇毛為秋脈太過不及之共有之狀——輕虚如毛，太過則中央堅而兩傍虚，不及則毛而微。與第十八篇「秋胃微毛，曰平；毛多胃少，曰肺病；但毛无胃，曰死」同條而義別：第十八篇以毛之多少與胃氣之有無判平病死，本篇則以毛之中央堅與微辨太過不及；又本篇「毛折乃死」之毛，為身毛而非脈象，同名而義別。
素問·宣明五氣 Suwen 23 · 宣明五氣 Read in context →
五脉應象：肝脉絃，心脉鈎，脾脉代，肺脉毛，腎脉石，是謂五藏之脉。 五脉应象：肝脉弦，心脉钩，脾脉代，肺脉毛，肾脉石，是谓五藏之脉。
Wǔ mài yìng xiàng: gān mài xián, xīn mài gōu, pí mài dài, fèi mài máo, shèn mài shí, shì wèi wǔ zàng zhī mài.
The images the five pulses answer to: the liver pulse is string-like, the heart pulse hooked, the spleen pulse intermittent, the lung pulse downy, the kidney pulse stony. These are the pulses of the five viscera.
「肺脉毛」：本篇之毛，為肺脈之象，與第十八篇秋脈之毛同實。與第十八篇「毛」條同條而義別：第十八篇就四時之序以毛為秋之脈，本篇則就五臟之序以毛為肺之脈。又第十九篇「毛折」之毛指毫毛，與此之為脈象者同名而異物。
素問·陰陽别論 Suwen 7 · 陰陽别論 Read in context →
鼓一陽曰鈎，鼓一陰曰毛，鼓陽勝急曰絃，鼓陽至而絶曰石，陰陽相過曰溜。 鼓一阳曰钩，鼓一阴曰毛，鼓阳胜急曰弦，鼓阳至而绝曰石，阴阳相过曰溜。
gǔ yī yáng yuē gōu, gǔ yī yīn yuē máo, gǔ yáng shèng jí yuē xián, gǔ yáng zhì ér jué yuē shí, yīn yáng xiāng guò yuē liū.
A throbbing showing one yang is called the hook; a throbbing showing one yin is called the hair; a throbbing in which yang prevails and is urgent is called the string; a throbbing in which yang arrives and is then cut off is called the stone; yin and yang passing over one another is called the flow.
「鼓一陰曰毛」——一陰之脉如毛，即秋脉毛，輕浮在表面按之即無；**「毛」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

毛
máo
hair, down
說文：眉髮之屬及獸毛也
微毛
wēi máo
slightly hair-like
秋之平脈
輕虛以浮
qīng xū yǐ fú
light, empty and floating
舊注釋毛之象
風吹毛
fēng chuī máo
hair blown by the wind
死肺脈之喻
榆莢
yú jiá
elm pods
肺平脈如落榆莢

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishhairy, or feather-likeHairy is a mistranslation to be avoided; feather-like and floating are used instead.
This sitethe hair quality毛 is body hair and down, the lightest thing the language has to hand, and the chapter uses it both for the good autumn pulse and — with the wind added — for the dying lung. Keeping it as a quality lets the same word carry both, and lets the reader see that what kills is not lightness but lightness with no root under it; hairy would be comic, and feather-like would lose the connection to 風吹毛 at the end of the chapter.

Entry status

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2026-09

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