熱病简体热病

rè bìng

Heat disease · re bing

Also rendered: heat disease (Keeps 病 as disease; 熱 left as plain heat) · febrile disease (Clinical register; imports the modern notion of fever)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: rè bìng
Simplified: 热病
Literal: Two graphs and no theory: 熱 rè, heat; 病 bìng, disease or the state of being diseased. The name is purely descriptive, and that is what makes chapter 31's opening move possible. Before any explanation is offered, the heat diseases are simply the diseases in which the body is hot. Only then does the chapter identify them all as belonging to the class of cold damage — that is, the description does not tell you the cause, and the whole chapter exists to supply it.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：熱，溫也，从火埶聲——「熱」讀 rè，本篇十三見，為全篇用字之第二（僅次於「病」）；「病」讀 bìng，本篇二十六見，為全篇用字之最。**「熱病」二字本篇三見**（今夫熱病者、熱病已愈、病熱少愈），皆指發熱之病，非後世與「傷寒」對舉之「溫病」；本站別有「溫病」（id 227）一條，與此分指，**勿混**。「者」讀 zhě；「皆」讀 jiē；「之」讀 zhī；「類」讀 lèi，門類也。**「熱病者皆傷寒之類」一句，是本篇開卷第一義**，亦後世傷寒、溫病兩家二千年聚訟之所起。

In brief

The general name for any disease in which the body is hot. Chapter 31 opens by declaring that every heat disease belongs to the class of cold damage: the heat is the visible state, the cold that was taken in earlier is the cause. The chapter then explains why some heat diseases kill and some do not — not by the degree of heat, since heat however extreme does not kill, but by whether the disease has been taken up by two paired channels at once. Heat disease is also the term the chapter uses when it turns from the acute stage to convalescence: what is left behind after a heat disease, and what must be forbidden while it is settling.

Senses in the classical corpus

The name and its definition 今夫熱病者，皆傷寒之類也

熱為病狀，寒為病因，熱病統屬於傷寒

今夫熱病者，皆傷寒之類也 — Suwen 31

Heat does not kill by itself 熱雖甚不死

熱勢雖盛不致死，死者由於兩感，不由於熱

熱雖甚不死 — Suwen 31

The two outcomes and their dates 或愈或死

死者六七日，愈者十日以上，即六經傳變之日數

或愈或死，其死皆以六七日之閒 — Suwen 31

The heat that lingers 時有所遺者

熱病已愈而餘熱未盡，謂之遺

熱病已愈，時有所遺者 — Suwen 31

The heat in convalescence 病熱少愈

熱病稍愈而飲食不慎，則復或遺

病熱少愈，食肉則復 — Suwen 31

The heat that is renamed by season 凡病傷寒而成温者

同一傷寒，夏至前為温，夏至後為暑

凡病傷寒而成温者 — Suwen 31

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

4 passages

素問·熱論 Suwen 31 · 熱論 Read in context →

黃帝問曰：今夫熱病者，皆傷寒之類也。黄帝问曰：今夫热病者，皆伤寒之类也。

Huáng dì wèn yuē: jīn fú rè bìng zhě, jiē shāng hán zhī lèi yě.

The Yellow Emperor asks: now, the heat diseases are all of the class of cold damage.

開卷第一句。「今」讀 jīn；**「夫」讀 fú，發語辭，不讀 fū**；「熱」讀 rè；「病」讀 bìng；「者」讀 zhě；「皆」讀 jiē；「傷」讀 shāng；「寒」讀 hán；「之」讀 zhī；「類」讀 lèi；「也」讀 yě。**此句是本篇之綱，亦為後世傷寒與溫病兩家之分水嶺**：本篇但言熱病之皆本於寒，未嘗分寒溫為二；至本篇末乃以夏至為界而分温、暑，其分已萌而未嚴。

素問·剌熱 Suwen 32 · 剌熱 Read in context →

諸治熱病，以飲之寒水乃剌之，必寒衣之，居止寒處，身寒而止也。诸治热病，以饮之寒水乃刺之，必寒衣之，居止寒处，身寒而止也。

Zhū zhì rè bìng, yǐ yǐn zhī hán shuǐ nǎi cì zhī, bì hán yī zhī, jū zhǐ hán chù, shēn hán ér zhǐ yě.

In treating all heat diseases, give cold water to drink and then needle; keep the clothing thin and the dwelling cool, and stop once the body is cool.

「熱病」之目於本站已立（id 947，據第三十一篇），本篇承之而專言其刺：「諸治熱病，以飲之寒水乃剌之，必寒衣之，居止寒處，身寒而止也」——「諸」讀 zhū，本篇三見；「治」讀 zhì；**「熱」讀 rè，本篇四十見，為全篇用字之最**；「病」讀 bìng；「以」讀 yǐ；**「飲」讀 yǐn，此為使之飲**，與「苦渴數飲」之為自飲者語氣有別；「之」讀 zhī；「寒」讀 hán，本篇七見；「水」讀 shuǐ；**「乃」讀 nǎi，而後也**；「剌」讀 cì；「必」讀 bì；「衣」讀 yī，此用作動詞，穿衣也；「居」讀 jū；**「止」讀 zhǐ，本篇五見**——「居止」之止為居處，「身寒而止」之止為停止，同形二義；**「處」讀 chù**，不作「处」；「身」讀 shēn；「而」讀 ér；「也」讀 yě。**凡三「寒」字**：寒水、寒衣、寒處，以寒治熱，而必以「身寒」為止境——過則傷陽，不及則熱不去。此與第三十一篇「病熱少愈，食肉則復」同為節度之言。

素問·水熱穴論 Suwen 61 · 水熱穴論 Read in context →

帝曰：夫子言治熱病五十九俞，余論其意，未能領别其處。願聞其處，因聞其意。帝曰：夫子言治热病五十九俞，余论其意，未能领别其处。愿闻其处，因闻其意。

Dì yuē: fú zǐ yán zhì rè bìng wǔ shí jiǔ shù, yú lùn qí yì, wèi néng lǐng bié qí chù. Yuàn wén qí chù, yīn wén qí yì.

The Emperor asks: you, sir, have spoken of fifty-nine transport points for treating heat disease. I have turned the meaning over but cannot yet tell one place from another. I wish to hear where they are, and through that to hear the meaning.

「夫子言治「熱」讀 rè「病」讀 bìng五十九俞」——**「熱病」本篇1見**；**下文「凡此五十九穴者，皆熱之左右也」即答此問**；**「熱」讀 rè，本篇「熱」10見**

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

是故寒熱病者，以平旦死。熱中及熱病者，以日中死。病風者，以日夕死。病水者，以夜半死。其脉乍疏乍數，乍遲乍疾者，日乘四季死。是故寒热病者，以平旦死。热中及热病者，以日中死。病风者，以日夕死。病水者，以夜半死。其脉乍疏乍数，乍迟乍疾者，日乘四季死。

Shì gù hán rè bìng zhě, yǐ píng dàn sǐ. Rè zhōng jí rè bìng zhě, yǐ rì zhōng sǐ. Bìng fēng zhě, yǐ rì xī sǐ. Bìng shuǐ zhě, yǐ yè bàn sǐ. Qí mài zhà shū zhà shuò, zhà chí zhà jí zhě, rì chéng sì jì sǐ.

Thus cold-heat disease kills at daybreak; internal heat and heat disease kill at noon; wind disease kills at sunset; water disease kills at midnight. One whose pulse is now scattered, now rapid, now slow, now hurried dies on a day that mounts the four quarters of the year.

「熱中及熱病者，以日中死」——熱中與熱病同屬陽，陽極於日中，故死以日中；**「熱病」本篇2見**

Compounds built on this term

熱病

rè bìng

heat disease

本篇三見，為全篇之總名

病熱

bìng rè

to have heat disease

本篇二見（則爲病熱、病熱當何禁之），與「熱病」同實而語序互倒

傷寒

shāng hán

cold damage

本篇五見，熱病之所由來

溫病

wēn bìng

warm disease

本站已立目（id 227），後世與傷寒對舉之名，本篇尚未分

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	heat disease	They keep the pair as literal as possible, so that 熱 remains heat and the later claim that heat comes from cold stays visible as a claim rather than a definition.
Unschuld	heat disease	Unschuld likewise leaves 熱 untranslated as heat, and notes in his commentary that the term covers a wider range than any modern febrile category.
This site	heat disease	We keep 熱 as heat and 病 as disease. The word is a description, and the chapter's whole argument depends on our seeing that the description is not yet an explanation.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths