Classica Sinica Medica

員利鍼 简体 员利针

yuán lì zhēn

Round-sharp needle · yuan li zhen

Also rendered: round-sharp needle (Gives both properties the Chinese names) · round-pointed needle (Risks being read as a blunt point, which is the opposite)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yuán lì zhēn
Simplified
员利针
Literal
員 is round — the same graph chapter 26 used for the roundness of 補, and here applied to the shaft of a needle. 利 is sharp. 鍼 is the needle, written with the metal radical, the form this base text uses throughout. The round-sharp needle is one of the nine needles of the Lingshu: a needle with a round body and a sharp point, made for something that is neither surface nor deep. Chapter 28 reaches for it once, for the lesser yin transport points taken three inches out from the spine.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：員，物數也，从貝口聲，引申為圓、周遍之義（「圓」 為後起分化字）；利，銛也，从刀，引申為鋒利；鍼，所以縫也，从金咸聲，「針」為其後起之形。「員利鍼」為《靈樞》九鍼之一。本篇之目：少陰俞去脊椎三寸傍五，用員利鍼。

In brief

One of the nine needles: round in the shaft and sharp at the point, made for work between the surface and the deep. Chapter 28 names it once, in a practical entry — the lesser yin transport points, five of them three inches out from the spinal vertebrae, are to be taken with the round-sharp needle. The chapter elsewhere uses the metal-radical 鍼 for every needle it names, including as a verb: here it is a tool, two lines later it is an action.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The needle 員利鍼
《靈樞》九鍼之一，身圓而刃利
用員利鍼 — Suwen 28
2
Round in the shaft 員
員通圓，為後起分化字「圓」之所本
用員利鍼 — Suwen 28
3
Sharp at the point 利
利讀 lì，鋒利也
用員利鍼 — Suwen 28
4
What it is used for here 少陰俞…傍五
脊椎旁開三寸、五穴，以此鍼取之
少陰俞去脊椎三寸傍五，用員利鍼 — Suwen 28
5
The graph this base text uses 鍼
本篇「鍼」五見，無一作「針」
剌三鍼 — Suwen 28
6
Needle as tool and as verb 鍼 / 剌
此處為名詞，下文「剌三鍼」之鍼計其數
上踝五寸，剌三鍼 — Suwen 28

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·通評虚實論 Suwen 28 · 通評虚實論 Read in context →
少陰俞去脊椎三寸傍五，用員利鍼。 少阴俞去脊椎三寸傍五，用员利针。
Shào yīn shù qù jǐ zhuī sān cùn páng wǔ, yòng yuán lì zhēn.
The lesser yin transport points, five of them three inches out from the spinal vertebrae — use the round-sharp needle.
「傍五」謂於脊椎旁開三寸處取五穴，與上文「剌足少陽五」「剌手心主三」之「五」「三」同為刺之次數（或穴數）。「去」讀 qù，離也、距也；「脊」讀 jǐ；**「椎」讀 zhuī，本篇惟此一見**，脊椎讀 jǐ zhuī，與第二十四篇「椎」（大椎之名）同字；**「員」讀 yuán，通「圓」**，與第二十六篇「員者，行也；行者，移也」之「員」同字而義別——彼以員狀補法之運行，此以員狀鍼身之圓；「利」讀 lì；「鍼」讀 zhēn，本篇五見，底本皆作鍼，不作「針」。

Compounds built on this term

員利鍼
yuán lì zhēn
round-sharp needle
本篇惟此一見，九鍼之一
九鍼
jiǔ zhēn
the nine needles
本站已立目（id 456），本篇五見鍼字
少陰俞
shào yīn shù
the lesser yin transport points
本篇刺法取之，俞讀 shù
脊椎
jǐ zhuī
the spinal vertebrae
本篇惟此一見椎字

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fenground-sharp needleThey keep the two properties in English — round shaft, sharp tip — which is how the Lingshu describes the instrument.
Unschuldround and sharp needleUnschuld adds the connective, treating the two graphs as two separate adjectives rather than a compound name.
This siteround-sharp needleWe keep the hyphenated form because 員利 is a set name in the list of nine needles, not a description the chapter is inventing. Note that the roundness here is the needle's, not the technique's: chapter 26's 員 was about how one moves, this one is about what one holds.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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