Classica Sinica Medica

揆度

kuí duó

Assessment · kui duo

Also rendered: assessment (Plain; keeps the act of measuring without the instrument) · measuring and estimating (Splits the two syllables) · diagnostic measurement (Modern and technical)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
kuí duó
Simplified
揆度
Literal
揆 to gauge, to take the measure of (《說文》: 度也); 度 to measure, and by extension a standard. Read together the two are almost the same word said twice, which is what you want in a term for measuring how far something has gone.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：揆，度也（段注：引申為度量、揣度）；度，法制也（段注：引申為計量長短、揆度事理）。二字互訓，皆从度量之義。

In brief

One of the two arts the chapter sets side by side, and the one that answers the ordinary clinical question: how deep does this go? Qibo’s definition is a single clause — 揆度者，度病之淺深也. The chapter then does something more interesting with it: it refuses to let the two arts stay separate, and says that colour, pulse, assessment and the anomalous are all one dao. 揆度 is the measuring half of that pair; 奇恒 is the half that names what cannot be measured by the rule.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Measuring the depth of illness 揆度者，度病之淺深也
王冰：「揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇恒者，言奇病也。」
揆度者，度病之淺深也 — Suwen 15
2
One of a pair, not a single art 揆度奇𢘆，道在於一
二者所指不同，而其道歸於一
揆度奇𢘆，道在於一 — Suwen 15
3
Applied to the colour of the face 其色見淺者……其見深者……其見大深者
以色之淺深定湯液、齊、醪酒與十日、二十一日、百日之期
其色見淺者，湯液主治，十日已 — Suwen 15
4
Applied to the treatment of reversal 治在權衡相奪，奇𢘆事也，揆度事也
權衡相奪之事，揆度與奇𢘆共之
治在權衡相奪，奇𢘆事也，揆度事也 — Suwen 15

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
素問·玉版論要 Suwen 15 · 玉版論要 Read in context →
歧伯對曰：揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。請言道之至數，五色脉變，揆度奇𢘆，道在於一。 岐伯对曰：揆度者，度病之浅深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。请言道之至数，五色脉变，揆度奇𢘆，道在于一。
qí bó duì yuē: kuí duó zhě, duó bìng zhī qiǎn shēn yě; qí héng zhě, yán qí bìng yě. qǐng yán dào zhī zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī.
Qibo replies: assessment is measuring the shallowness and depth of an illness; the anomalous speaks of strange illness. Let me speak of the ultimate numbers of the Way: the shifts of the five colours, the shifts of the pulse, assessment and the anomalous — the Way lies in the one.
王冰：「揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇恒者，言奇病也。」本篇開章即以此二事並舉，而結以「揆度奇𢘆，道在於一」。下文「其色見淺者，湯液主治，十日已；其見深者，必齊主治，二十一日已；其見大深者，醪酒主治，百日已」即揆度之實事。又：「治在權衡相奪，奇𢘆事也，揆度事也。」
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至數，五色脉變，揆度奇恒，道在於一。神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》。 帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至数，五色脉变，揆度奇恒，道在于一。神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦读之，名曰《玉机》。
Dì jù rán ér qǐ, zài bài ér qǐ shǒu yuē: shàn. Wú dé mài zhī dà yào, tiān xià zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī. Shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. Zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, cáng zhī zàng fǔ, měi dàn dú zhī, míng yuē Yù jī.
The Emperor starts up in alarm, bows twice and touches his head to the ground: “Good. I have the great essentials of the pulse — the ultimate numbers under heaven, the changes of the five colours and the pulse, assessment and the anomalous-constant. The way lies in the one. The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and the pivot is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is immediate and minute: write it on a jade tablet, store it in the storehouse of the viscera, read it every morning, and call it the Jade Mechanism.”
「五色脉變，揆度奇恒，道在於一」：本篇揆度之義，與奇恒並舉而歸於一。與第十五篇「揆度」（揆度者，度病之淺深也）同條而義進：第十五篇分釋揆度與奇恒——揆度者度病之淺深，奇恒者言奇病，本篇則合二者而歸之於一，與「五色脉變」同為帝所得「脉之大要」之目；下文「著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》」，即其所以重之。
素問·病能論 Suwen 46 · 病能論 Read in context →
金匱者，決死生也。揆度者，切度之也。奇𢘆者，言奇病也。 金匮者，决死生也。揆度者，切度之也。奇恒者，言奇病也。
Jīn guì zhě, jué sǐ shēng yě. Kuí duó zhě, qiè duó zhī yě. Qí héng zhě, yán qí bìng yě.
The Golden Casket decides life and death. The Kui Duo feels the pulse and measures it. The Qi Heng speaks of strange diseases.
「「揆」讀 kuí「度」讀 duó者，切度之也」——**本篇「揆度」1見**；**「度」本篇4見，皆讀 duó，度量之義**；**本篇所釋與第十五篇「揆度者，度病之淺深也」互為表裏**；「切」讀 qiè，**切讀 qiè**。

Compounds built on this term

揆
kuí
to gauge, to estimate
說文：度也
度
duó
to measure
說文：法制也；此讀 duó，與「度量」之度同
奇𢘆
qí héng
the anomalous
與「揆度」對舉，本篇之二事
權衡
quán héng
weighing
本篇「治在權衡相奪」；第十四篇「平治於權衡」
淺深
qiǎn shēn
shallow and deep
揆度所量者

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishmeasurement, or diagnosis by measurementMost renderings flatten 揆度 into either measuring or diagnosing.
This siteassessment揆 and 度 are both verbs of measuring, and the chapter is asking how far something has gone. Assessment in English keeps the judgement that follows the measuring, which is what 度病之淺深 actually is — you measure, and then you decide what the measurement means. Diagnosis by measurement would make it a technique name, and the text does not have a word for technique here.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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