石

shí

The stone quality · shi

Also rendered: the stone quality (Literal) · stony (Adjectival) · sunken and hard (Descriptive of the feel) · stony pulse (Named as a pulse type)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: shí
Simplified: 石
Literal: 石 stone, rock (《說文》: 山石也). A pulse that lies deep and hard, to be found only by pressing — like a stone sunk under water.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：石，山石也（段注：引申為凡堅硬沉重之物）。

In brief

The winter quality of the pulse, stated in chapter 18 like the rest: 冬胃微石，曰平 — slightly stony with stomach qi in it is balanced; stone much and stomach qi little is kidney disease; stone alone without stomach qi is death; and stone carrying hook in it foretells illness in summer. The chapter closes the whole set on the same image: the dying kidney pulse is 辟辟如彈石, beating like stones flicked off the finger — hardness that has lost its pliancy.

Senses in the classical corpus

The winter quality, with stomach qi 冬胃微石，曰平

微石而有胃氣者為平脈

冬胃微石，曰平 — Suwen 18

Too much of it 石多胃少，曰腎病

石多而胃少者病在腎

石多胃少，曰腎病 — Suwen 18

It alone, with no stomach qi 但石无胃，曰死

但有石而無胃氣者死

但石无胃，曰死 — Suwen 18

Found inside another season's pulse 耎弱有石曰冬病

長夏脈見石，至冬而病

耎弱有石曰冬病，弱甚曰今病 — Suwen 18

The image at its end 辟辟如彈石

死腎脈促急堅硬，如彈擊石

死腎脉來，發如奪索，辟辟如彈石，曰腎死 — 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 →

冬胃微石，曰平；石多胃少，曰腎病；但石无胃，曰死，石而有鈎，曰夏病，鈎甚曰今病。藏真下於腎，腎藏骨髓之氣也。冬胃微石，曰平；石多胃少，曰肾病；但石无胃，曰死，石而有钩，曰夏病，钩甚曰今病。脏真下于肾，肾藏骨髓之气也。

dōng wèi wēi shí, yuē píng; shí duō wèi shǎo, yuē shèn bìng; dàn shí wú wèi, yuē sǐ, shí ér yǒu gōu, yuē xià bìng, gōu shèn yuē jīn bìng. zàng zhēn xià yú shèn, shèn cáng gǔ suǐ zhī qì yě.

In winter, a pulse with stomach qi and slight stone is called balanced; if the stone is much and the stomach qi little, it is kidney disease; if there is nothing but stone and no stomach qi, it is death; if the stone carries hook in it, disease is foretold for summer; if the hook is pronounced, the disease is present now. The true qi of the depots descends into the kidney; the kidney stores the qi of the bone and marrow.

本篇冬脈之例：冬胃微石曰平，石多胃少曰腎病，但石无胃曰死；又有「胃而有石曰冬病」「耎弱有石曰冬病」「石而有鈎曰夏病」三處，皆以兼見之象定傳變。末段死腎脈「辟辟如彈石」，即石象之失柔和者。

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：其氣來如彈石者，此謂太過，病在外；其去如數者，此謂不及，病在中。帝曰：何如而反？歧伯曰：其气来如弹石者，此谓太过，病在外；其去如数者，此谓不及，病在中。

Dì yuē: hé rú ér fǎn? Qí bó yuē: qí qì lái rú tán shí zhě, cǐ wèi tài guò, bìng zài wài; qí qù rú shù zhě, cǐ wèi bù jí, bìng zài zhōng.

Arriving like a flicked stone is excess, and the disease is in the exterior. Departing like a rapid count is deficiency, and the disease is in the interior.

「其氣來如彈石者，此謂太過，病在外」：本篇石為冬脈太過之狀——如彈石者，堅硬而不柔和。與第十八篇「冬胃微石，曰平；石多胃少，曰腎病；但石无胃，曰死」、「辟辟如彈石，曰腎死」同條而義別：第十八篇以石之多少與胃氣之有無判平病死，並以「辟辟如彈石」為腎死之脈，本篇則以「如彈石」為冬脈太過之形——太過則令人解㑊、脊脉痛、少氣不欲言；下文真腎脈「如指彈石，辟辟然」，則石之至而無胃氣者。

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.

「腎脉石」：本篇之石，為腎脈之象，與第十八篇冬脈之石同實。與第十八篇「石」條、第十五篇「石水」之石同條而義別：第十八篇以石為冬脈沉堅之象，本篇配之於腎；「石水」之石則以水腫之堅為名，與脈象之石無涉。五脈之末為石，猶四時之末為冬，沉而藏者腎之象也。

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.

「鼓陽至而絶曰石」——鼓陽脉至而忽絶者曰石，即冬脉石，沉而堅，按之乃得；**「石」本篇2見**

Compounds built on this term

石

shí

stone

說文：山石也

微石

wēi shí

slightly stony

冬之平脈

沈搏

chén bó

sunken and beating

舊注釋石之象

彈石

dàn shí

stones flicked from the finger

死腎脈之喻

骨髓

gǔ suǐ

bone and marrow

腎藏骨髓之氣，石為腎脈

How it has been translated

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

Common English	stony, or sunken and hard	Both are used; sunken and hard describes what is felt, stony names the image.
This site	the stone quality	As with the other four, the chapter grades this one — 石多胃少, stone much and stomach little — so it is kept as something a pulse carries rather than a verdict on it. Stony in English suggests hardness alone, but the chapter's image is of a stone sunk under water: depth as well as hardness, which is why the winter pulse is found only by pressing. The quality held as a noun keeps both.

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2026-09

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