登高而歌

dēng gāo ér gē

Climbing high and singing · deng gao er ge

Also rendered: climbing high and singing (Keeps both verbs plain and in order) · ascending heights and singing (More elevated in register; less like a clinical note)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: dēng gāo ér gē
Simplified: 登高而歌
Literal: 登 to climb, 高 high, 歌 to sing. A man climbs to a high place and sings. Chapter 30 lists it among the things a patient does when Yangming disease is severe, and answers it with the fullness of the limbs: 陽盛則四支實，實則能登高也 — when yang is exuberant the four limbs are full, and being full they can climb. The singing is left unexplained, which is characteristic: the chapter accounts for the climbing and lets the singing stand as part of the same excess.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：登，上車也，从癶豆——引申為凡上升之稱；高，崇也，象臺觀高之形；歌，詠也，从欠哥聲。「登」讀 dēng，本篇二見；「高」讀 gāo，本篇二見；「歌」讀 gē，本篇二見。四字連言本篇二見：「登高而歌」「不避親疏而歌者」，一在問語之列舉，一在問語之追加；答語則僅以「實則能登高也」釋其能，而歌不復別釋。

In brief

Climbing to a high place and singing, listed in chapter 30 among the things a patient does in severe Yangming disease. The chapter explains the climbing by the fullness of the limbs when yang is exuberant, and does not explain the singing separately — it belongs to the same excess. Later literature reads the pair as a standard sign of mania; chapter 30 reads it as the limbs having more yang in them than usual.

Senses in the classical corpus

The act in the list 登高而歌

病甚則登高而歌

病甚則棄衣而走，登高而歌 — Suwen 30

Why he can climb 實則能登高也

陽盛則四支實，實故能登高

陽盛則四支實，實則能登高也 — Suwen 30

The root of the strength 四支者，諸陽之本也

四肢為諸陽之會，陽氣由此達於四末

四支者，諸陽之本也 — Suwen 30

The singing, taken as part of it 而歌

歌不別釋，與棄衣踰垣同屬陽盛之實

不避親疏而歌者，何也 — Suwen 30

Its stronger neighbour 踰垣上屋

登高分所可為，踰垣則加甚

踰垣上屋 — Suwen 30

What the ability rests on 陽盛

非真得異能，陽氣充溢於四肢故力倍於常

陽盛則使人妄言駡詈，不避親疏 — Suwen 30

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·陽明脉解 Suwen 30 · 陽明脉解 Read in context →

病甚則棄衣而走，登高而歌，或至不食數日，踰垣上屋，所上之處，皆非其素所能也，病反能者，何也？歧伯曰：四支者，諸陽之本也，陽盛則四支實，實則能登高也。病甚则弃衣而走，登高而歌，或至不食数日，逾垣上屋，所上之处，皆非其素所能也，病反能者，何也？歧伯曰：四支者，诸阳之本也，阳盛则四支实，实则能登高也。

Bìng shèn zé qì yī ér zǒu, dēng gāo ér gē, huò zhì bù shí shù rì, yú yuán shàng wū, suǒ shàng zhī chù, jiē fēi qí sù suǒ néng yě, bìng fǎn néng zhě, hé yě?Qí bó yuē: sì zhī zhě, zhū yáng zhī běn yě, yáng shèng zé sì zhī shí, shí zé néng dēng gāo yě.

When the illness is severe, the patient casts off his clothes and runs, climbs high and sings, and may go several days without eating; he scales walls and gets onto roofs — and the places he reaches are all places he was never able to reach before. How is it that in illness he can do what he could not do in health? Qibo says: the four limbs are the root of all the yang. When yang is exuberant the four limbs become full, and being full they are able to climb high.

問語列舉病甚之狀，答語專釋其能。「病」讀 bìng；「甚」讀 shèn；「則」讀 zé；「棄」讀 qì；「衣」讀 yī；「走」讀 zǒu；「登」讀 dēng；「高」讀 gāo；「而」讀 ér；「歌」讀 gē；「或」讀 huò；「至」讀 zhì；「不」讀 bù；「食」讀 shí；「數」讀 shù；「日」讀 rì；「踰」讀 yú；「垣」讀 yuán；「上」讀 shàng；「屋」讀 wū；「所」讀 suǒ；「處」讀 chù；「皆」讀 jiē；「非」讀 fēi；「素」讀 sù；「能」讀 néng；「反」讀 fǎn；「者」讀 zhě；「何」讀 hé；「也」讀 yě。答語「歧」讀 qí；「伯」讀 bó；「曰」讀 yuē；**「四」讀 sì；「支」讀 zhī，底本作「支」，不作「肢」**；**「諸」讀 zhū，眾也**，底本作「諸」，不作「诸」；「陽」讀 yáng；「之」讀 zhī；**「本」讀 běn，根本也**；**「盛」讀 shèng**；**「實」讀 shí，本篇二見，底本作「實」，不作「实」**。**「陽盛則四支實，實則能登高」是答「病反能者」之要**：非病者忽得異能，乃陽氣充溢於四肢故力倍於常；及其病退陽衰，則所為者亦復如常，可見其能非真能也。

Compounds built on this term

登高而歌

dēng gāo ér gē

climbing high and singing

本篇二見，病甚之狀

實則能登高

shí zé néng dēng gāo

being full, able to climb high

本篇一見，答語之辭

四支者，諸陽之本

sì zhī zhě, zhū yáng zhī běn

the four limbs are the root of all the yang

本篇一見

棄衣而走

qì yī ér zǒu

casting off the clothes and running

本篇二見，與登高同列

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	(rendered as) climbs to high places and sings	They keep the two actions in the order of the text and add no interpretation.
Unschuld	(rendered as) climbs up high and sings	Unschuld likewise keeps the pair literal, and treats the singing as part of the same behavioural complex.
This site	climbing high and singing	We keep both verbs plain. The chapter's explanation covers only the climbing — the limbs are full, so they can climb — and leaves the singing to stand beside it. A rendering that smoothed the pair into a single phrase ('sings from the rooftops') would conflate two things the text keeps separate.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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