奇邪

qí xié

Stray evil · qi xie

Also rendered: stray evil (Keeps 奇 as what has wandered off the count) · odd evil (Literal for 奇, but odd now means strange) · anomalous evil (Abstract, loses the walking) · qi xie (Bare transliteration)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: qí xié
Simplified: 奇邪
Literal: 奇 odd, single, left over (《說文》: 奇，異也 — 段注: 不羣之謂; 又奇 as the remainder when things cannot be paired). 邪 a place name borrowed for crooked (《說文》: 邪，琅邪郡 — 段注: 引申爲邪正之邪). An evil that has not gone where evils are supposed to go.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：奇，異也（段玉裁注：不羣之謂；又數之零餘亦曰奇）；邪，琅邪郡（段玉裁注：引申爲邪正之邪、爲語辭）。

In brief

An evil that has lodged where the channels do not run, and the one case in the chapter where needling crosses the body. If the disease is in a stray evil, then it is the stray evil’s vessel that is treated, and it is treated by contralateral puncture — the left for the right, the right for the left. The chapter adds a second and slower rule for evil that has settled: if it lingers, the body wastes and does not move, then needle it by stages. Stray evil is thus distinguished from the winds of chapter one by where it sits rather than by what it is: not the evil that comes in season, but the one that has wandered off the map of the channels.

Senses in the classical corpus

What it is 奇邪

不入於經而流溢於絡之邪

其病者在奇邪 — Suwen 20

How it is treated 則繆刺之

病在左取之右，病在右取之左

奇邪之脉，則繆刺之 — Suwen 20

When it will not move 留瘦不移

邪留而形瘦不移，則節而刺之

留瘦不移，節而刺之 — Suwen 20

Its place among the treatments 經病治經，孫絡治孫絡血

與經病、孫絡病並列為三

經病者，治其經；孫絡病者，治其孫絡血 — Suwen 20

How it differs from the seasonal winds 虛邪賊風

彼以時至，此則不入於經

虛邪賊風，避之有時 — Suwen 1

Occurrences in the classics

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

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3 passages

素問·三部九候論 Suwen 20 · 三部九候論 Read in context →

其病者在奇邪，奇邪之脉，則繆刺之。留瘦不移，節而刺之。其病者在奇邪，奇邪之脉，则缪刺之。留瘦不移，节而刺之。

Qí bìng zhě zài qí xié, qí xié zhī mài, zé miù cì zhī. Liú shòu bù yí, jié ér cì zhī.

Where the disease lies in stray evil, the vessels of stray evil are treated by contralateral needling. Where the evil lodges and the wasting does not shift, needle it by stages.

本篇刺法之第二條：「其病者在奇邪，奇邪之脉，則繆刺之。留瘦不移，節而刺之。」奇者，不入於經、流溢於絡之邪，故不循經而取，用繆刺——病在左取之右，病在右取之左。與第十四篇「温衣繆剌其處」（彼「剌」為「刺」之形近字）及第七篇繆刺之例同法。又與第一篇「虛邪賊風，避之有時」相對：虛邪賊風以時而至，可避；奇邪則不入於經，非避之可及，故別立繆刺之法。「留瘦不移」者，邪著而形瘦，則不可急取，當節次而刺之。

素問·離合真邪論 Suwen 27 · 離合真邪論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：夫邪去絡入於經也，舍於血脉之中，其寒温未相得，如涌波之起也，時來時去，故不常在。歧伯曰：夫邪去络入于经也，舍于血脉之中，其寒温未相得，如涌波之起也，时来时去，故不常在。

Qí bó yuē: fú xié qù luò rù yú jīng yě, shè yú xuè mài zhī zhōng, qí hán wēn wèi xiāng dé, rú yǒng bō zhī qǐ yě, shí lái shí qù, gù bù cháng zài.

Qibo says: When an evil leaves the network vessels and enters the channels, it lodges in the midst of the blood and vessels. Its cold and its warmth have not yet come to accord, and it rises like a surging wave — now coming, now going, so it does not stay constantly in one place.

「夫邪去絡入於經也，舍於血脉之中」——邪自絡而入於經，尚未與真氣相合，往來無定，如涌波之起，是本站奇邪之義所當該者。**「涌」讀 yǒng**，底本作涌不作「湧」；「舍」讀 shè；「常」讀 cháng。本篇不立奇邪之名，而「時來時去，故不常在」一語，正是奇邪往來無定之狀；與第二十六篇「正邪」之說對讀，可知邪之有小大、有常變，而本篇所論者是其變者。

素問·氣穴論 Suwen 58 · 氣穴論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：孫絡三百六十五穴會，亦以應一歲，以溢奇邪，以通滎衛。歧伯曰：孙络三百六十五穴会，亦以应一岁，以溢奇邪，以通荥卫。

Qí bó yuē: sūn luò sān bǎi liù shí wǔ xué huì, yì yǐ yìng yī suì, yǐ yì qí xié, yǐ tōng róng wèi.

Qi Bo says: the grandchild network too has three hundred and sixty-five point meetings, answering likewise to one year; it lets the strange evil overflow, and lets construction and defence pass through.

「歧伯曰：孫絡三百六十五穴會，亦以應一歲，以溢「奇」讀 qí「邪」讀 xié，以通滎衛。」——**本篇「奇邪」1見，讀 qí xié**；**孫絡之用有二：溢奇邪，通滎衛——邪之溢出，正由孫絡**；**本目第四十篇所立：邪客於絡脉之中，非經脉所行之地**；**本篇同此而益明：孫絡三百六十五會者，即溢奇邪之三百六十五路**；「通」讀 tōng、**「以通滎衛」「以通榮衛」之通讀 tōng，本篇2見**；**本篇「邪」3見：「背胸邪繋」「邪溢氣壅」「以溢奇邪」三處皆是**

Compounds built on this term

奇

qí

odd, left over

說文：異也

邪

xié

evil, crooked

說文：琅邪郡；引申為邪正之邪

繆刺

miù cì

contralateral puncture

左取右，右取左

留瘦不移

liú shòu bù yí

lingering, wasting, not moving

邪著而不行

節而刺之

jié ér cì zhī

needle it by stages

節，次第也

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	strange evil	Their 奇 is consistently strange when it qualifies a pathogen or a disease.
Unschuld	anomalous evil / evil of unusual kind	He keeps the sense of something outside the ordinary classifications.
This site	stray evil	奇 in 說文 is 異 — what does not group with the rest — and it is also the word for the odd one left over when a count comes out uneven. Both are in play: this evil is the one that did not go into a channel, and so the map cannot be used on it, which is exactly why the treatment crosses the body. Strange would make it a matter of kind and invites wonder; anomalous would make it a matter of classification and invites a footnote. Stray says it has gone off the road, which is the reason for the contralateral needle.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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