Classica Sinica Medica

食肉則復 简体 食肉则复

shí ròu zé fù

Eating meat brings relapse · shi rou ze fu

Also rendered: eating meat brings relapse (Keeps 則 as consequence; 復 as relapse) · meat causes recurrence (Flatter; loses the conditional shape of the line)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
shí ròu zé fù
Simplified
食肉则复
Literal
食 shí, to eat; 肉 ròu, meat; 則 zé, then; 復 fù, to return. Read literally: eat meat and the disease comes back. The sentence is a prohibition given in the form of a consequence, and it is paired with a second one — eat much and something is left behind — so that the chapter forbids both a kind of food and an amount of it.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：食，一米也，从皀亼聲——「食」讀 shí，本篇五見；肉，胾肉，象形——「肉」讀 ròu，本篇二見；則，等畫物也，从刀从貝——「則」讀 zé；復，往來也，从彳复聲——**「復」讀 fù，本篇一見，復發也**，底本作「復」，不作「复」。「病」讀 bìng；「熱」讀 rè；**「少」讀 shǎo，稍稍也**——本篇「少」十二見，此與「少愈」諸讀 shǎo 者同；「愈」讀 yù；「多」讀 duō；「遺」讀 yí；「此」讀 cǐ；「其」讀 qí；「禁」讀 jìn，本篇二見；「也」讀 yě。**「食肉則復，多食則遺」八字是病後調攝之格言**。

In brief

The dietary prohibition with which chapter 31 closes its discussion of convalescence: when the heat disease is a little better, eating meat brings relapse and eating much leaves residue. The two halves forbid different things — one a kind of food, one a quantity — and together they complete the chapter’s account of why heat diseases linger. The mechanism has already been given: while heat is stored, grain qi and it press against each other and two heats join. Meat is hard to transform and feeding is easy to overdo, so both reignite what was settling.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The prohibition stated 食肉則復，多食則遺
一戒其質，一戒其量
食肉則復，多食則遺 — Suwen 31
2
What is forbidden 此其禁也
此即熱病之禁
此其禁也 — Suwen 31
3
The question behind it 病熱當何禁之
黃帝問熱病何所當禁
病熱當何禁之 — Suwen 31
4
Why food is the problem 熱甚而強食之
熱盛時勉強進食，是遺之因
熱甚而強食之 — Suwen 31
5
The sign that it is safe 則思飲食
胃氣復則知飢，與強食之一正一反
則思飲食 — Suwen 31
6
The anorexic counterpart 不欲食
兩感第二日則腹滿身熱、不欲食
腹滿身熱，不欲食 — Suwen 31

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·熱論 Suwen 31 · 熱論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：病熱少愈，食肉則復，多食則遺，此其禁也。 歧伯曰：病热少愈，食肉则复，多食则遗，此其禁也。
Qí bó yuē: bìng rè shǎo yù, shí ròu zé fù, duō shí zé yí, cǐ qí jìn yě.
Qibo says: when the heat disease is a little better, eating meat brings relapse and eating much leaves residue. This is the prohibition.
熱病之飲食禁。「歧」讀 qí；「伯」讀 bó；「曰」讀 yuē；「病」讀 bìng；「熱」讀 rè；「少」讀 shǎo；「愈」讀 yù；「食」讀 shí；「肉」讀 ròu；「則」讀 zé；**「復」讀 fù，本篇一見，復發也**；「多」讀 duō；「遺」讀 yí；「此」讀 cǐ；「其」讀 qí；「禁」讀 jìn；「也」讀 yě。**此與《傷寒論》「損穀則愈」之說並行不悖**：一在熱病初愈而戒其食，一在病後食復而損其穀，其理一貫。

Compounds built on this term

食肉則復
shí ròu zé fù
eating meat brings relapse
本篇一見，後世稱「食復」
多食則遺
duō shí zé yí
eating much leaves residue
本篇一見
食復
shí fù
relapse from eating
後世之名，本篇作「食肉則復」
五禁
wǔ jìn
the five prohibitions
本站已立目（id 742），與此之飲食禁可互參

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengeating meat causes a return of the diseaseThey keep the conditional shape, but 'return of the disease' is longer than 復 and reads like a description rather than a warning.
Unschuld(if he) eats meat, (the disease) will recurUnschuld makes the condition explicit with 'if', which is right in sense but adds a conjunction the Chinese does without.
This siteeating meat brings relapseWe keep 則 as 'brings' and 復 as relapse. The line is a prohibition written as a consequence, and both the brevity and the conditional shape are part of its force.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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