傷寒简体伤寒

shāng hán

Cold damage · shang han

Also rendered: cold damage (Keeps 傷 as damage; cold left as a noun) · cold harm (Softer than damage; loses the sense of being wounded)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: shāng hán
Simplified: 伤寒
Literal: 傷 shāng, to be harmed or wounded; 寒 hán, cold. Read literally the phrase says that the person has been harmed by cold, and it says nothing about fever at all. Chapter 31's first sentence puts this phrase and 熱病 heat disease in the same breath and declares one to be a class of the other, which is why the phrase carries such weight: the name of the cause and the name of the appearance are being deliberately joined.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：傷，創也，从人𥏫省聲——「傷」讀 shāng，本篇五見；寒，凍也，从人在宀下，以茻薦覆之，下有仌——「寒」讀 hán，本篇八見。**「傷寒」二字本篇五見**（皆傷寒之類、傷寒一日、人之傷於寒也、其兩感於寒而病者、凡病傷寒而成温者），**皆指為寒邪所傷，非後世《傷寒論》專書之名**。「於」讀 yú；「者」讀 zhě；「凡」讀 fán；「成」讀 chéng；「温」讀 wēn，底本作「温」不作「溫」，亦不作「瘟」。**「傷寒」在《素問》中惟此篇與第三十二、三十三篇為熱病之因**，與《難經》「傷寒有五」之廣義者同名而取義有別。

In brief

Having been harmed by cold. In chapter 31 this is the single cause named for every heat disease: a person is harmed by cold, the result is heat disease. The chapter’s day-by-day account is the account of how that harm spreads — one channel per day, from 巨陽 through the three yang and then into the three yin. The phrase also carries the chapter’s last lesson about time: the same cold damage becomes warm disease before the summer solstice and summerheat disease after it, so the cause is one and the names are two.

Senses in the classical corpus

The cause named 人之傷於寒也，則爲病熱

傷於寒者發為熱病，寒為因、熱為果

人之傷於寒也，則爲病熱 — Suwen 31

The class to which heat belongs 皆傷寒之類也

熱病統屬傷寒，全篇第一義

今夫熱病者，皆傷寒之類也 — Suwen 31

The count begins 傷寒一日，巨陽受之

傷寒之病程以日計，一日一經

傷寒一日，巨陽受之 — Suwen 31

The lethal form 其兩感於寒而病者

表裏二經同日受寒，則必不免於死

其兩感於寒而病者，必不免於死 — Suwen 31

The benign form 其不兩感於寒者

不兩感者七日之後逐經病衰

其不兩感於寒者，七日，巨陽病衰 — Suwen 31

The cause renamed by season 凡病傷寒而成温者

同一傷寒，以夏至分温、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

2 passages

素問·熱論 Suwen 31 · 熱論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：傷寒一日，巨陽受之，故頭項痛，腰脊強。歧伯曰：伤寒一日，巨阳受之，故头项痛，腰脊强。

Qí bó yuē: shāng hán yī rì, jù yáng shòu zhī, gù tóu xiàng tòng, yāo jǐ jiāng.

Qibo says: on the first day of cold damage 巨陽 receives it, hence pain in the head and nape and stiffness in the lumbar spine.

六經傳變之第一日。「傷」讀 shāng；「寒」讀 hán；「一」讀 yī；「日」讀 rì，本篇二十六見；「巨」讀 jù，大也；「陽」讀 yáng，本篇十七見；「受」讀 shòu，本篇八見；「之」讀 zhī；「故」讀 gù；「頭」讀 tóu；**「項」讀 xiàng，頸後也**；「痛」讀 tòng；「腰」讀 yāo；「脊」讀 jǐ；**「強」讀 jiāng，僵硬不柔和也**，與下文「強食之」之讀 qiǎng 者同形異讀。**此句開「一日一經」之例**，《傷寒論》「傷寒一日，太陽受之」即本於此，惟改「巨陽」為「太陽」。

素問·刺志論 Suwen 53 · 刺志論 Read in context →

氣盛身寒，得之傷寒；气盛身寒，得之伤寒；

Qì shèng shēn hán, dé zhī shāng hán;

Qi replete while the body is cold — this is got from cold damage;

「氣盛身寒，得之「傷」讀 shāng「寒」讀 hán」——**本篇「傷寒」1見，讀 shāng hán**；**「得之傷寒」者，為寒所傷——與第三十一篇「傷寒一日，巨陽受之」同一「傷於寒」之義**；「寒」讀 hán、**本篇「寒」3見，讀 hán**；「盛」讀 shèng、**「氣盛」之盛讀 shèng，本篇4見**；**本篇以「得之傷寒」與「得之傷暑」對舉：寒傷則氣盛身寒，暑傷則氣虚身熱**

Compounds built on this term

傷寒

shāng hán

cold damage

本篇五見，熱病之病因

傷於寒

shāng yú hán

harmed by cold

本篇一見，「傷寒」之散言

兩感於寒

liǎng gǎn yú hán

affected in two places by cold

本篇三見，傷寒之死證

溫病

wēn bìng

warm disease

本站已立目（id 227），後世由傷寒分化之名

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	cold damage	They render 傷 as damage throughout, so that the same word appears in 傷寒 and in the ordinary language of being hurt, keeping the cause physical rather than atmospheric.
Unschuld	harm caused by cold	Unschuld expands 傷 to 'harm caused by', which makes the causal reading explicit but turns a two-graph term into a clause.
This site	cold damage	We keep 傷 as damage and 寒 as cold. The phrase is short in Chinese and should stay short; the causal reading is plain from the chapter's first sentence.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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