脱營简体脱营

tuō yíng

The camp draining away · tuo ying

Also rendered: Loss of the camp (clearer to a modern reader, and it drops the verb 脱) · Ying depletion (keeps the transliteration, and says nothing)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-17

At a glance

Pinyin: tuō yíng
Simplified: 脱营
Literal: 脱 tuō — to slip off, to come away from its place; 營 yíng — the camp, the qi that runs within the vessels and feeds the body. The pair names an illness with no outside cause: a man was honoured and has fallen low, and the camp qi comes away.
Shuowen: 《說文》：脱，消肉臞也，引申為解去；營，市居也，醫書借為營氣。「脱營」本篇1見；「營」字1見，別於下文「内奪於榮」之「榮」。王冰注「嘗貴後賤，謂之脱營」；「脱」字3見：「名曰脱營」「精華日脱」「故貴脱勢」。

In brief

The first of the two ills that have no outside cause, and the reason the first error is an error. A man was once honoured and has since fallen low; no evil has struck him, but the illness is born within, and it is called 脱營, the camp draining away. Wang Bing’s gloss ties the name to the history: 嘗貴後賤，謂之脱營. What drains is the camp qi, the portion that runs inside the vessels; when it comes away the body dwindles day by day, the qi is deficient and without essence, and the man is chilled and startled from time to time. The physician who examines him finds nothing — the illness is not in the viscera and receptacles, and the bodily form has not changed — so he doubts, and does not know the name. That is precisely the case the chapter says one must ask about before treating.

Senses in the classical corpus

Illness without an outside cause 名曰脱營

雖不中邪，病從内生

Though no pathogen has struck, the illness arises from within.

名曰脱營 — 素問·疏五過論

What drains 營氣内脱

王冰：嘗貴後賤，謂之脱營

Wang Bing: to have been noble and then fallen is called the camp draining away.

必問嘗貴後賤 — 素問·疏五過論

Its partner 名曰失精

一傷營，一傷精

One harms the camp, the other harms the essence.

嘗富後貧，名曰失精 — 素問·疏五過論

What the physician finds 不在藏府，不變軀形

診之而疑，不知病名

The physician feels it and is in doubt, not knowing the name of the illness.

醫工診之 — 素問·疏五過論

What follows 身體日減，氣虚無精

病深無氣，洒洒然時驚

The illness is deep and qi is gone; there is a shivering chill and fright at times.

身體日減 — 素問·疏五過論

Why it deepens 外耗於衛，内奪於榮

營衛俱傷，故病深

Camp and defence are both harmed, and so the illness is deep.

以其外耗於衛 — 素問·疏五過論

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·疏五過論 Read in context →

帝曰：凡未診病者，必問嘗貴後賤，雖不中邪，病從内生，名曰脱營。嘗富後貧，名曰失精。五氣留連，病有所并。醫工診之，不在藏府，不變軀形，診之而疑，不知病名。帝曰：凡未诊病者，必问尝贵后贱，虽不中邪，病从内生，名曰脱营。尝富后贫，名曰失精。五气留连，病有所并。医工诊之，不在藏府，不变躯形，诊之而疑，不知病名。

Dì yuē: fán wèi zhěn bìng zhě, bì wèn cháng guì hòu jiàn, suī bù zhòng xié, bìng cóng nèi shēng, míng yuē tuō yíng. Cháng fù hòu pín, míng yuē shī jīng. Wǔ qì liú lián, bìng yǒu suǒ bìng. Yī gōng zhěn zhī, bù zài zàng fǔ, bù biàn qū xíng, zhěn zhī ér yí, bù zhī bìng míng.

Huang Di said: In every case, before the illness is diagnosed, one must ask whether a man was once honoured and has since fallen low; though no evil has struck him, the illness is born from within, and it is called the camp draining away. One who was once rich and has since grown poor: this is called the loss of essence. The five qi linger and stay, and the illness finds something to join. The physician examines him: the illness is not in the viscera and receptacles, nor has the bodily form changed; he examines and doubts, and does not know the name of the illness.

「脱營」本篇1見，在「嘗貴後賤」之下；此段先叙二病，後言「醫工診之，不在藏府，不變軀形」，是一過之案；「脱」字3見，此為首見。

Compounds built on this term

脱營

tuō yíng

the camp draining away

本篇一見

營氣

yíng qì

camp qi

脱營所脱者

失精

shī jīng

loss of essence

與脱營對舉，另立一目

嘗貴後賤

cháng guì hòu jiàn

once honoured, later low

脱營之因

How it has been translated

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

This site	the camp draining away	keeps both the verb and the name of the qi
Literal	the camp coming off	exact, and odd in English
Clinical	wasting from lost status	clear, and it explains what the chapter leaves to the reader

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-17

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