瘛

chì

Tetany · chi

Also rendered: tetany (Clinical term for sustained pulling and tightening) · convulsion (Loose: 瘛 is pulled and held, not shaking) · spasm (Acceptable but blander than the sustained pull the text describes) · chi (Bare transliteration)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
chì
Simplified
瘛
Literal
瘛 convulsion, spasm (《說文》: 小兒瘛瘲病也 — the child's disease of spasm and slackening). Used here of the drawn tightening of sinews and vessels in the last stage of a transmitted disease.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:瘛,小兒瘛瘲病也(段玉裁注:瘛之言掣也,瘲之言縱也)。

In brief

The last stage of the disease that entered as wind-cold. When the kidney transmits to the heart, the sinews and vessels pull against one another and tighten, and this is named 瘛. It is the point at which only cautery and medicine remain, and after ten full days death is due by rule. The word is close in form to the 瘈 of 瘈瘲 in chapter sixteen, and the two are often confused; this chapter writes 瘛, and the base text is followed here.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The final stage 病名曰瘛
筋脉相引而急者,名瘛
腎傳之心,病筋脉相引而急,病名曰瘛 — Suwen 19
2
What it looks like 筋脉相引而急
筋與脈互相牽引而拘急
病筋脉相引而急 — Suwen 19
3
What is left to do 可灸、可藥
唯灸與藥二者
當此之時,可灸、可藥 — Suwen 19
4
How long is left 滿十日,法當死
十日之後,法當死
弗治,滿十日,法當死 — Suwen 19
5
The word itself 瘛音 chì
與第十六篇「瘈瘲」之瘈形近而字別
病名曰瘛 — Suwen 19

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·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
弗治,腎傳之心,病筋脉相引而急,病名曰瘛,當此之時,可灸、可藥。弗治,滿十日,法當死。腎因傳之心,心即復反傳而行之肺,發寒熱,法當三歲死。此病之次也。 弗治,肾传之心,病筋脉相引而急,病名曰瘛,当此之时,可灸、可药。弗治,满十日,法当死。肾因传之心,心即复反传而行之肺,发寒热,法当三岁死。此病之次也。
Fú zhì, shèn chuán zhī xīn, bìng jīn mài xiāng yǐn ér jí, bìng míng yuē chì, dāng cǐ zhī shí, kě jiǔ, kě yào. Fú zhì, mǎn shí rì, fǎ dāng sǐ. Shèn yīn chuán zhī xīn, xīn jí fù fǎn chuán ér xíng zhī fèi, fā hán rè, fǎ dāng sān suì sǐ. Cǐ bìng zhī cì yě.
Left untreated, the kidney transmits it to the heart; the sinews and vessels pull against one another and tighten. It is called tetany; at that point one may cauter and may give medicine. Left untreated, at the full ten days death is due by rule. The kidney thus transmits to the heart, and the heart turns back and transmits to the lung, with cold and heat developing — by rule death is due in three years. Such is the order of the disease.
本篇傳變之次第,末入於心而為瘛:筋脉相引而急,可灸、可藥。與第十六篇「瘈瘲」(太陽之脉,其終也,戴眼、反折、瘈瘲)同條而義別:第十六篇之瘈瘲為太陽經氣終絕之候,字作瘈;本篇字作瘛,為腎傳心之病名。二字形近,各從底本而不相混。
素問·大奇論 Suwen 48 · 大奇論 Read in context →
心脉滿大,癇瘛筋攣。肝脉小急,癇瘛筋攣。 心脉满大,痫瘛筋挛。肝脉小急,痫瘛筋挛。
Xīn mài mǎn dà, xián chì jīn luán. Gān mài xiǎo jí, xián chì jīn luán.
A full and large heart vessel gives fits, spasm and contracting sinews. A small and hurried liver vessel gives the same.
「「癇」讀 xián「瘛」讀 chì「筋」讀 jīn「攣」讀 luán」——「瘛」讀 chì、**本篇2見,讀 chì,與「瘈」形近而別**;**「癇瘛筋攣」本篇二見,一由心脉滿大,一由肝脉小急,二脉相反而同發此三證**。
素問·氣交變大論 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
民病寒疾於下,甚則腹滿浮腫,上應鎮星,其主黅榖。復則大風暴發,草偃木零,生長不鮮,面色時變,筋骨併辟,肉膶瘛,目視䀮䀮,物疏璺,肌肉胗發,氣并鬲中,痛於心腹,黄氣乃損,其榖不登,上應歲星。 民病寒疾于下,甚则腹满浮肿,上应镇星,其主黅谷。复则大风暴发,草偃木零,生长不鲜,面色时变,筋骨并辟,肉膶瘛,目视䀮䀮,物疏璺,肌肉胗发,气并鬲中,痛于心腹,黄气乃损,其谷不登,上应岁星。
Mín bìng hán jí yú xià, shèn zé fù mǎn fú zhǒng, shàng yìng zhèn xīng, qí zhǔ jīn gǔ. Fù zé dà fēng bào fā, cǎo yǎn mù líng, shēng zhǎng bù xiān, miàn sè shí biàn, jīn gǔ bìng bì, ròu rún chì, mù shì huāng huāng, wù shū wèn, jī ròu zhěn fā, qì bìng gé zhōng, tòng yú xīn fù, huáng qì nǎi sǔn, qí gǔ bù dēng, shàng yìng suì xīng.
The people are ill with cold disease below and, if it is severe, fullness of the abdomen and floating swelling; it answers above to Saturn, and what it governs is the yellow grain. When revenge comes, great wind breaks out violently, the grass lies down and the trees are stripped, growth is not fresh, the colour of the face changes from time to time, the sinews and bones are drawn together and awry, the flesh twitches and there is convulsion, the eyes see dimly, things are cracked and split, rashes break out on the flesh, the qi gathers in the diaphragm, there is pain in the heart and abdomen, the yellow qi is damaged, and its grain is not harvested; it answers above to Jupiter.
「面色時變,筋骨併辟,肉膶瘛,目視䀮䀮」——**「瘛」本篇1見,止此一見**;**同句「膶」讀 rún,本篇1見;「瞤」讀 shùn,本篇1見,在「肌肉瞤酸」;二字同一語之分寫而同篇並存,各从其處,別見校勘**;**「瘛」讀 chì**
Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
升明之紀,正陽而治,德施周普,五化均衡,其氣高,其性速,其用燔灼,其化蕃茂,其類火,其政明曜,其候炎暑,其令熱,其藏心,心其畏寒,其主舌,其榖麥,其果杏,其實絡,其應夏,其蟲羽,其畜馬,其色赤,其養血,其病瞤瘛,其味苦,其音徵,其物脉,其數七。 升明之纪,正阳而治,德施周普,五化均衡,其气高,其性速,其用燔灼,其化蕃茂,其类火,其政明曜,其候炎暑,其令热,其藏心,心其畏寒,其主舌,其谷麦,其果杏,其实络,其应夏,其虫羽,其畜马,其色赤,其养血,其病瞤瘛,其味苦,其音徵,其物脉,其数七。
Shēng míng zhī jì, zhèng yáng ér zhì, dé shī zhōu pǔ, wǔ huà jūn héng, qí qì gāo, qí xìng sù, qí yòng fán zhuó, qí huà fán mào, qí lèi huǒ, qí zhèng míng yào, qí hòu yán shǔ, qí lìng rè, qí zàng xīn, xīn qí wèi hán, qí zhǔ shé, qí gǔ mài, qí guǒ xìng, qí shí luò, qí yìng xià, qí chóng yǔ, qí chù mǎ, qí sè chì, qí yǎng xuè, qí bìng shùn chì, qí wèi kǔ, qí yīn zhǐ, qí wù mài, qí shù qī.
In the era of Rising Brightness the upright yang governs; its virtue is bestowed all round and the five transformations are evenly balanced. Its qi high, its nature quick, its use burning and scorching, its transformation luxuriant growth, its class fire, its governance bright shining, its climate blazing heat, its command heat, its viscus the heart; the heart fears cold; it governs the tongue; its grain wheat, its fruit the apricot, its kernel the network, its answering summer, its creature the feathered, its domestic animal the horse, its colour red, its nourishment the blood, its illness twitching of the flesh and cramping of the vessels, its flavour bitter, its note zhi, its thing the vessels, its number seven.
**「瘛」本篇1見,止在升明之紀「其病瞤瘛」**;**火之平氣,其病瞤瘛;本站另有「瞤」「瘛」之名,此篇二字連言**

Compounds built on this term

瘛
chì
spasm, tetany
說文:小兒瘛瘲病也
筋脉
jīn mài
sinew and vessel
說文:筋,肉之力也
相引
xiāng yǐn
pulling one another
瘛之狀
急
jí
tight, urgent
說文:褊也
瘈瘲
chì zòng
spasm and slackening
第十六篇之字,與瘛形近

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & FengtetanyTheir standard rendering for 瘛 in disease names.
Common Englishconvulsion, or spasmBoth are used loosely in translation.
This sitetetany瘛 in 說文 belongs to 瘛瘲, and 段注 glosses 瘛 as 掣 — to drag — which is exactly what this passage says: the sinews and vessels pull against one another and hold. Convulsion suggests violent movement, and spasm suggests a brief one; neither fits a state that is described as a tightening and that comes with a ten-day term. Tetany holds the idea of sustained pull without adding shaking to it.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths