隴起简体陇起

lǒng qǐ

Swell into ridges · long qi

Also rendered: swell into ridges (Keeps 隴 as ridge, which is what a river does under wind) · rise in a swell (Smoother English, but loses the banked shape of 隴)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: lǒng qǐ
Simplified: 陇起
Literal: 隴 is 說文's 天水大阪, the great slope at Tianshui — a place name that became the ordinary word for a raised bank or mound — and 起 is to stand up, 說文's 能立. So 隴起 is to rise like a bank, to swell up in a ridge rather than a point. Chapter 27 uses 隴 three times and the three uses are the whole apparatus: water heaves into ridges when a wind gusts up, the pulse's arrival also swells, and when true and evil have merged the wave-swell stops rising. The last of the three is the diagnostic hinge — the swell is the only visible sign, and when it stops the physician loses his marker.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：隴，天水大阪也。从阜龍聲；起，能立也。从走巳聲。隴本隴坂之名，引申為凡隆起之稱；隴起，謂如阪之隆起。本篇之目：卒風暴起，則經水波涌而隴起。後世或寫作「壟」，非其本字，底本作隴。

In brief

To swell up in a ridge. Chapter 27 uses the image three times: the river heaves into ridges when a sudden wind rises, the arrival of the pulse also swells at times, and — the decisive case — when true qi and evil have merged the wave-swell no longer rises. That last use is why the word matters. The swell is the only thing that can be watched; when it stops there is nothing left to wait for, and the physician has to change method entirely, from meeting the evil to regulating by what is full and empty among the three regions and nine indicators.

Senses in the classical corpus

Water heaving in a gust 波涌而隴起

卒風暴起，水涌如隴

卒風暴起，則經水波涌而隴起 — Suwen 27

The pulse swelling 其至也亦時隴起

脉之至，亦時時隆起如波

經之動脉，其至也亦時隴起 — Suwen 27

The sign that has stopped 波隴不起

真邪已合則波隴不起，無可候

然真邪以合，波隴不起 — Suwen 27

The evil's coming and going 如涌波之起也

邪未與真合，故時來時去如波

如涌波之起也，時來時去，故不常在 — Suwen 27

The moment to press and halt 方其來也，必按而止之

波起之時即邪來之時

故曰方其來也，必按而止之 — Suwen 27

What replaces it once it stops 審捫循三部九𠉀之盛虚

波隴不起，则改候三部九候之盛虚

審捫循三部九𠉀之盛虚而調之 — Suwen 27

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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1 passages

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

卒風暴起，則經水波涌而隴起。夫邪之入於脉也，寒則血凝泣，暑則氣淖澤，虚邪因而入客，亦如經水之得風也。經之動脉，其至也亦時隴起。卒风暴起，则经水波涌而陇起。夫邪之入于脉也，寒则血凝泣，暑则气淖泽，虚邪因而入客，亦如经水之得风也。经之动脉，其至也亦时陇起。

Cù fēng bào qǐ, zé jīng shuǐ bō yǒng ér lǒng qǐ.Fú xié zhī rù yú mài yě, hán zé xuè níng sè, shǔ zé qì nào zé, xū xié yīn ér rù kè, yì rú jīng shuǐ zhī dé fēng yě.Jīng zhī dòng mài, qí zhì yě yì shí lǒng qǐ.

When a sudden wind rises in a gust, the rivers heave in waves and swell into ridges. Now when an evil enters the pulse: cold makes the blood congeal and drag, heat makes the qi thin and glossy, and the empty evil takes advantage of this to enter and lodge — exactly as a river meets the wind. In the beating pulse of the channel, its arrival too sometimes swells up like a ridge.

三句連讀可見「隴」字在本篇裡的用法極為經濟：第一句用在經水（喻體），第二句轉到動脉（主體），到第三十七段「波隴不起」則用在真邪已合之時（喻體與主體合一）。**「隴」讀 lǒng，本篇三見**，後世或寫作「壟」，非其本字，底本作隴；**「卒」讀 cù，通「猝」**；「暴」讀 bào；「涌」讀 yǒng，底本作涌不作「湧」；「動」讀 dòng；「脉」讀 mài，本篇六見。值得注意的是：「其至也亦時隴起」的「亦」字（「亦」讀 yì）正是把經水之喻與動脉之實扣在一起的那個字——水如此，脉亦如此。所以到篇末真邪已合而波隴不起時，醫者失去的不是一個症狀，而是他唯一的候法。

Compounds built on this term

隴起

lǒng qǐ

swelling into ridges

本篇三見隴字，分居起、至、不起三處

波隴

bō lǒng

wave-swell

真邪已合則波隴不起

涌波

yǒng bō

a surging wave

邪氣往來如涌波之起

三部九候

sān bù jiǔ hòu

three regions and nine indicators

本站已立目（id 659），波隴不起則改用此法

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	rise up in waves	They fold 隴 into the wave image, which reads well but collapses the two words of the Chinese into one.
Unschuld	rise up like a hill	Unschuld keeps the mound sense of 隴, which is etymologically right and slightly more geological than a river surface.
This site	swell into ridges	We keep a noun for 隴 because the chapter uses the word's shape — something banked and long rather than peaked — and because '波隴不起' has to read as a thing that can stop happening.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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