兩感简体两感

liǎng gǎn

Double affection · liang gan

Also rendered: double affection (Keeps 感 as being affected; 兩 left as two) · dual contraction (Medical register; suggests two separate events rather than one paired one)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: liǎng gǎn
Simplified: 两感
Literal: 兩 liǎng, two; 感 gǎn, to be affected or moved by. The phrase says that the person has been affected in two places, and chapter 31 immediately says what the two places are: a yang channel and the yin channel paired with it. The ordinary course is one channel per day; the double-affected patient takes both members of a pair on the same day, and that is the one thing in the chapter that kills without exception.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：兩，二十四銖為一兩，从一㒳——「兩」讀 liǎng，本篇五見，底本作「兩」不作「两」；感，動人心也，从心咸聲——「感」讀 gǎn，本篇四見。**「兩感」本篇三見**（其兩感於寒而病者、其不兩感於寒者、兩感於寒者病一日），**皆指表裏相配之二經同日受邪**：巨陽與少陰、陽明與太陰、少陽與厥陰。「於」讀 yú；「而」讀 ér；「必」讀 bì；「免」讀 miǎn；「不」讀 bù；「者」讀 zhě；「病」讀 bìng；「死」讀 sǐ。**「兩感」是本篇唯一之死證，亦全篇預後之所繫**：上文「熱雖甚不死」，下文「必不免於死」，一不死一必死，其分全在兩感與否。

In brief

Being affected in two places at once: a yang channel and its paired yin channel taking the disease on the same day. Chapter 31 lays out the three pairings in order — on the first day 巨陽 with 少陰, on the second 陽明 with 太陰, on the third 少陽 with 厥陰 — and gives the result in one line: no fluid goes down, the patient recognises no one, and on the sixth day he dies. The importance of the term is that it makes prognosis independent of severity. Heat however extreme does not kill; double affection kills, and does so on schedule.

Senses in the classical corpus

The prognosis 必不免於死

兩感者必死，此為全篇最峻之斷語

其兩感於寒而病者，必不免於死 — Suwen 31

Its opposite 其不兩感於寒者

不兩感者七日之後逐經病衰，十二日而病已

其不兩感於寒者，七日，巨陽病衰 — Suwen 31

The first pairing 巨陽與少陰俱病

膀胱與腎為表裏，一日而二經俱病

則巨陽與少陰俱病 — Suwen 31

The second pairing 陽明與太陰俱病

胃與脾為表裏，二日而二經俱病

則陽明與太陰俱病 — Suwen 31

The third pairing 少陽與厥陰俱病

膽與肝為表裏，三日而二經俱病

則少陽與厥陰俱病 — Suwen 31

The end of it 水漿不入，不知人，六日死

兩感之終局，與開卷「六七日」之期相合

水漿不入，不知人，六日死 — 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：兩感於寒者，病一日，則巨陽與少陰俱病，則頭痛口乾而煩滿；歧伯曰：两感于寒者，病一日，则巨阳与少阴俱病，则头痛口干而烦满；

Qí bó yuē: liǎng gǎn yú hán zhě, bìng yī rì, zé jù yáng yǔ shào yīn jù bìng, zé tóu tòng kǒu gān ér fán mǎn;

Qibo says: in one affected in two places at once, on the first day 巨陽 and 少陰 are both diseased, hence headache, a dry mouth and fretting fullness;

兩感第一日之狀。「歧」讀 qí；「伯」讀 bó；「曰」讀 yuē；「兩」讀 liǎng；「感」讀 gǎn；「於」讀 yú；「寒」讀 hán；「者」讀 zhě；「病」讀 bìng；「一」讀 yī；「日」讀 rì；「則」讀 zé；「巨」讀 jù；「陽」讀 yáng；「與」讀 yǔ；「少」讀 shào（少陰之少）；「陰」讀 yīn；**「俱」讀 jù，同也，本篇三見**；「頭」讀 tóu；「痛」讀 tòng；「口」讀 kǒu；「乾」讀 gān；「而」讀 ér；「煩」讀 fán；「滿」讀 mǎn。**頭痛者巨陽之證，口乾煩滿者少陰之證，二經之證同日並見，故曰俱病**。

Compounds built on this term

兩感

liǎng gǎn

double affection

本篇三見，唯一致死之機

俱病

jù bìng

both diseased

本篇三見，兩感之實義

兩感於寒

liǎng gǎn yú hán

affected in two places by cold

本篇三見

不兩感於寒

bù liǎng gǎn yú hán

not affected in two places

本篇一見，兩感之反

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	dual contraction	They use 'contraction' for 感 which matches their handling of 傷 elsewhere, but 'dual' loses the sense that the two channels are a matched pair rather than any two.
Unschuld	(when) both [conduits] have been affected	Unschuld spells out that what is doubled is the conduits, which is right, at the cost of turning a term into a gloss.
This site	double affection	We keep 感 as being affected and leave 兩 as two. What is doubled is not two illnesses but the two members of one pair, and the chapter says so in the next breath.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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