癰疽简体痈疽

yōng jū

Abscess and flat abscess · yong ju

Also rendered: abscess and flat abscess (Distinguishes the two kinds the Chinese keeps apart) · swellings and deep sores (Plainer English; loses the technical pairing)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: yōng jū
Simplified: 痈疽
Literal: 癰 is the swelling that rises — the graph carries the sickness radical over 雝, and the word is used for the hot, raised, angry swelling that comes to a head. 疽 is the other kind: the deep, flat, cold one that does not rise and does not come to a head, and is therefore far more dangerous. Chapter 28 brings them in for a single reason — they are the exception to the rule about winter. Everything else in winter is treated with medicines and lightly with needles; abscesses are not, because they allow no delay at all.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：癰，腫也，从疒雝聲；疽，癰之深者，久癰也，从疒且聲。癰淺而熱、易潰；疽深而平、難潰，故疽尤為危。本篇之目：癰疽不得頃時回。「疽」與「疸」形近而音義皆異。

In brief

The two kinds of abscess: the raised hot one that comes to a head, and the deep flat one that does not. Chapter 28’s only reason for naming them is to exempt them — the rule that in winter one should use medicines and go lightly with needles and stones does not apply here, because an abscess grants no delay, not so much as an hour. What follows is a run of practical entries: where to needle an abscess that has no fixed place, an abscess in the armpit with great heat, and a sudden abscess with slackening sinews.

Senses in the classical corpus

The pair 癰疽

癰淺而熱，疽深而平，二者並稱

所謂少鍼石者，非癰疽之謂也 — Suwen 28

The exemption 不得頃時回

癰疽不可片刻遲回，故不從少鍼石之戒

癰疽不得頃時回 — Suwen 28

The abscess with no fixed place 癰不知所，按之不應手

乍來乍已，故取手太陰傍與纓脉

剌手太陰傍三痏與纓脉各二 — Suwen 28

The abscess in the armpit 掖癰大熱

先刺足少陽五，熱不止則再刺手心主三

掖癰大熱，剌足少陽五 — Suwen 28

The sudden abscess 暴癰筋緛

筋緛、隨分而痛、魄汗不盡、胞氣不足，治在經俞

暴癰筋緛，隨分而痛 — Suwen 28

Distinct from 疸疽 ≠ 疸

疽讀 jū，疸讀 dǎn，本篇二字並見

黃疸，暴痛，癲疾、厥狂 — Suwen 28

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·通評虚實論 Suwen 28 · 通評虚實論 Read in context →

所謂少鍼石者，非癰疽之謂也。癰疽不得頃時回，癰不知所，按之不應手，乍來乍已，剌手太陰傍三痏與纓脉各二。所谓少针石者，非痈疽之谓也。痈疽不得顷时回，痈不知所，按之不应手，乍来乍已，刺手太阴傍三痏与缨脉各二。

Suǒ wèi shǎo zhēn shí zhě, fēi yōng jū zhī wèi yě.Yōng jū bù dé qǐng shí huí, yōng bù zhī suǒ, àn zhī bù yìng shǒu, zhà lái zhà yǐ, cì shǒu tài yīn páng sān wěi yǔ yīng mài gè èr.

What is meant by going lightly with needles and stones does not apply to abscesses and flat abscesses. Abscess and flat abscess allow no turning back for so much as an hour. When an abscess has no known location, does not answer to the hand when pressed, and comes and goes by turns, needle three wei beside the hand greater yin and two each at the throat vessels.

「所謂少鍼石者，非癰疽之謂也」一句是限定語：上文「少鍼石」之戒不適用於癰疽之類，癰疽當急用針砭決之，「不得頃時回」即申此義。**「癰」讀 yōng，本篇五見**；**「疽」讀 jū，本篇二見**，與篇末「黃疸」之「疸」形近而音義皆異；**「頃」讀 qǐng，本篇惟此一見**，「頃時」猶言頃刻；「回」讀 huí，遲回也，底本作回，不作「迴」；「乍」讀 zhà；「已」讀 yǐ；**「傍」讀 páng，本篇五見**，底本皆作傍，不作「旁」；**「痏」讀 wěi，本篇惟此一見**；**「纓」讀 yīng，本篇惟此一見**。正因其無定所可尋，故不從「少鍼石」之戒，而徑取手太陰之傍與纓脈以刺之。

Compounds built on this term

癰疽

yōng jū

abscess and flat abscess

本篇「癰」五見、「疽」二見

掖癰

yè yōng

abscess in the armpit

「掖」通腋，本篇惟此一見

暴癰

bào yōng

sudden abscess

暴癰筋緛，隨分而痛，治在經俞

少鍼石

shǎo zhēn shí

go lightly with needles and stones

冬閉塞之戒，癰疽不與焉

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	welling abscess and flat abscess	They keep the pair and add the shape — 癰 wells up, 疽 lies flat — which is exactly the distinction the Chinese is making.
Unschuld	abscesses and imposthumes	Unschuld uses the older English surgical vocabulary, which matches the pre-modern Chinese categories more closely than modern terms do.
This site	abscess and flat abscess	We keep both words because chapter 28's point depends on the pairing: these are the swellings that must be opened at once, in a chapter otherwise counselling restraint. 'Flat' is the plainest English for 疽's defining property.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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