滑濇简体滑涩

huá sè

Slippery and rough · hua se

Also rendered: slippery and rough (The literal pair; keeps the physical sense of both words) · smooth and choppy (More idiomatic in English pulse description, less literal)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: huá sè
Simplified: 滑涩
Literal: 滑 is what a thing does when it slides — slippery, smooth, offering no friction — and 濇 is the opposite: what catches, drags, will not move freely. Both are words about surfaces before they are words about pulses. Chapter 28 takes them as the two poles of every prognostic question it asks: a pulse that runs smooth still has qi moving in it; a pulse that drags has run out of the thing that keeps it going. The base text writes the second word 濇 throughout, the older graph, never the modern 澀.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：滑，利也，从水骨聲；濇，不滑也，从水嗇聲。二字皆从水，本以水之利澀為喻，《內經》用以狀脉之往來流利與艱澀。本篇之目：故曰：滑則從，濇則逆也。

In brief

The two poles by which chapter 28 judges every case it is asked about. Slippery means the qi is still travelling — there is something moving, and where something moves there is life; rough means the blood and qi have lost their fluency and the pulse is dragging. The chapter applies the test again and again, in almost identical words: slippery follows and rough is counterflow; slippery lives and rough dies; slippery-and-large is called life and hanging-and-rough is called death. Nothing else in the chapter is used as consistently.

Senses in the classical corpus

The general rule 滑則從，濇則逆

脉滑為順，脉濇為逆，本篇通例

故曰：滑則從，濇則逆也 — Suwen 28

Stated as life and death 滑則生，濇則死

重虚之證以滑濇決生死

如此者，滑則生，濇則死也 — Suwen 28

Applied within repletion 實而滑則生，實而逆則死

實脉之中更辨滑與逆

實而滑則生，實而逆則死 — Suwen 28

Rough together with floating and heat 脉浮而濇

浮濇而身熱者，陽浮陰枯，故死

脉浮而濇，濇而身有熱者死 — Suwen 28

Rough in the cubit 尺濇而不應

尺膚枯滯、按之不應手，形實而氣敗

脉急大堅，尺濇而不應也 — Suwen 28

Slippery enlarged, rough suspended 滑大者曰生，懸濇者曰死

腸澼之屬以滑大、懸濇決之

滑大者曰生，懸濇者曰死，以藏期之 — Suwen 28

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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2 passages

素問·通評虚實論 Suwen 28 · 通評虚實論 Read in context →

故曰：滑則從，濇則逆也。故曰：滑则从，涩则逆也。

Gù yuē: huá zé cóng, sè zé nì yě.

Hence it is said: if the pulse is slippery, the case follows; if it is rough, the case is counterflow.

此八字是全篇的總綱：以下凡言吉凶，皆以滑為生、以濇為死——「滑則生，濇則死」（重虚節）、「實而滑則生，實而逆則死」（寒氣暴上節）、「滑大者曰生，懸濇者曰死」（腸澼節）皆是。**「濇」讀 sè，本篇七見**，即「澀」之本字，底本無一處作澀，亦無簡體「涩」；「滑」讀 huá，本篇七見；「從」讀 cóng，本篇七見，皆「順」義，一讀 zòng（同縱），本篇不取。滑者氣血流利、胃氣尚存，故生；濇者氣血枯滯、胃氣已敗，故死。

素問·陰陽應象大論 Suwen 5 · 陰陽應象大論 Read in context →

善診者，察色按脉，先别陰陽，審清濁，而知部分，視喘息，聽音聲，而知所苦，觀權衡規矩，而知病所主。按尺寸，觀浮沈滑濇，而知病所生。以治无過，以診則不失矣。善诊者，察色按脉，先别阴阳，审清浊，而知部分，视喘息，听音声，而知所苦，观权衡规矩，而知病所主。按尺寸，观浮沉滑涩，而知病所生。以治无过，以诊则不失矣。

shàn zhěn zhě, chá sè àn mài, xiān bié yīn yáng, shěn qīng zhuó, ér zhī bù fèn, shì chuǎn xī, tīng yīn shēng, ér zhī suǒ kǔ, guān quán héng guī jǔ, ér zhī bìng suǒ zhǔ. àn chǐ cùn, guān fú chén huá sè, ér zhī bìng suǒ shēng. yǐ zhì wú guò, yǐ zhěn zé bù shī yǐ.

One who is skilled in diagnosis observes the complexion and presses the pulse, first distinguishing yin and yang; examining clarity and turbidity, he knows the affected region; watching the breathing and listening to the voice and sound, he knows what the sufferer is troubled by; observing the weights, balances, compasses and squares, he knows what governs the disease. Pressing the chi and cun, observing floating, sunken, smooth and rough, he knows where the disease arose. Thus in treatment there is no error, and in diagnosis there is no failure.

「觀浮沈滑濇」——按尺寸而觀浮沈滑濇，則知病所由生；**「滑濇」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

滑濇

huá sè

slippery and rough

本篇以之為斷吉凶之二極

滑大

huá dà

slippery and large

腸澼節以為生

懸濇

xuán sè

hanging and rough

腸澼節以為死

尺濇

chǐ sè

rough at the cubit

形盡滿節見之，按之不應手

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	slippery and rough	They use the standard English pulse vocabulary — slippery for 滑, rough for 濇 — which is what a student of Chinese pulse reading will meet everywhere else.
Unschuld	smooth and rough	Unschuld prefers smooth for 滑, on the grounds that 'slippery' in English suggests something unreliable rather than something moving freely.
This site	slippery and rough	We keep slippery because chapter 28 uses the word physically: the same root reappears in 滑利, where the five depots, bone and flesh are 'slippery and free' and so last long. Rough, not choppy: the point is friction, not interruption.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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