Classica Sinica Medica

重虚

chóng xū

Doubled vacuity · chong xu

Also rendered: doubled vacuity (Mirrors the site's rendering of 重實 as doubled repletion) · double emptiness (Plainer, but loses the technical ring that 虚 carries)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
chóng xū
Simplified
重虚
Literal
重 is the same graph as the 重 of 重實 — doubled, one thing laid on another — and 虚 is emptiness, what has been hollowed out. Where 重實 means that a disease is replete twice over, 重虚 means the patient is empty in two places at once: the pulse is vacant above and the cubit is vacant too. The word is Qibo's own coinage for the moment when there is no longer anywhere to draw on. Chapter 28 gives it no treatment beyond a test — slippery and the patient lives, rough and the patient dies — because when both the upper and the lower have given out, there is very little left to treat.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：重，厚也，从壬東聲，引申為重疊、加倍之義；虚，大丘也，引申為空虛、不足之稱。本篇「重」五見，皆讀 chóng（重實三見、重虚二見）。本篇之目：脉氣上虚尺虚，是謂重虚。

In brief

Vacuity doubled on itself — the pulse vacant in the upper region and the cubit vacant as well. Chapter 28 defines it in one line and then spends three lines telling you how to recognise it: vacuity of qi shows in speech that has lost its constancy, vacuity at the cubit shows in a walk that has gone faint and unsteady, and vacuity of the pulse shows in a pulse that no longer resembles a yin pulse at all. The chapter offers no needling for it. It gives only the test it has been giving all along: if the pulse is still slippery there is life in it, if it has gone rough there is not.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The definition 重虚
脉氣上虚而尺亦虚，上下俱虚，故曰重
脉氣上虚尺虚，是謂重虚 — Suwen 28
2
Vacuity of qi, recognised in speech 氣虚者，言無常也
氣虚則言語無常度、聲不接續
所謂氣虚者，言無常也 — Suwen 28
3
Vacuity at the cubit, recognised in walking 尺虚者，行步恇然
尺虚則行步怯弱無力
尺虚者，行步恇然 — Suwen 28
4
Vacuity of the pulse 脉虚者，不象陰也
脉失陰柔之體，不復象陰
脉虚者，不象陰也 — Suwen 28
5
The test that closes it 滑則生，濇則死
重虚之證惟以滑濇決生死
如此者，滑則生，濇則死也 — Suwen 28
6
The pair it is set against 重實
實上加實曰重實，虚上加虚曰重虚，同篇對舉
所謂重實者，言大熱病，氣熱脉滿 — Suwen 28

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·通評虚實論 Suwen 28 · 通評虚實論 Read in context →
帝曰：何謂重虚？歧伯曰：脉氣上虚尺虚，是謂重虚。 帝曰：何谓重虚？歧伯曰：脉气上虚尺虚，是谓重虚。
Dì yuē: hé wèi chóng xū?Qí bó yuē: mài qì shàng xū chǐ xū, shì wèi chóng xū.
The Emperor says: what is meant by doubled vacuity? Qibo says: when the pulse qi is vacuous above and the cubit is vacuous as well, this is called doubled vacuity.
此問答是全篇最冷靜的一節：上文問重實，答以「大熱病，氣熱脉滿」，是實上加實；此問重虚，答以「脉氣上虚尺虚」，是虚上加虚。**「重」讀 chóng，本篇五見**，皆「重疊、加倍」之義，不作輕重之 zhòng；「虚」讀 xū，本篇二十見，底本皆作虚，不作「虛」。下文「何以治之」之答不直言治法，而先分氣虚、尺虚、脉虚三目——蓋重虚之證先當辨其可治不可治，末以「滑則生，濇則死」斷之，與全篇「滑則從，濇則逆」同一律令。
素問·刺禁論 Suwen 52 · 刺禁論 Read in context →
刺足少陰脉，重虚出血，爲舌難以言。 刺足少阴脉，重虚出血，为舌难以言。
Cì zú shào yīn mài, chóng xū chū xuè, wéi shé nán yǐ yán.
To needle the shaoyin vessel of the foot and draw blood in one who is doubly depleted: the tongue cannot speak.
「刺足少陰脉，「重」讀 chóng「虚」讀 xū出血，爲舌難以言」——**本篇「重虚」1見，讀 chóng xū，與第二十八篇「何謂重虚」同讀**；「陰」讀 yīn、**本篇4見**；「舌」讀 shé、**本篇2見，讀 shé**；**重虚者虚上加虚；於此而出血，則舌難以言**。

Compounds built on this term

重虚
chóng xū
doubled vacuity
本篇二見，與重實對舉
重實
chóng shí
doubled repletion
本站已立目（id 824），第二十六篇已見
氣虚
qì xū
vacuity of qi
本篇開卷即曰氣虚者肺虚也
尺虚
chǐ xū
vacuity at the cubit
尺部之虚，本篇以行步恇然驗之

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengdouble vacuityThey render 重 as double rather than doubled, keeping the symmetry with their 'double repletion' for 重實.
Unschuldtwofold emptinessUnschuld spells out the two places that are empty — the pulse above and the cubit below — rather than letting the word stand as a bare compound.
This sitedoubled vacuityWe keep doubled to match our 重實 entry (id 824), so that the two appear side by side in the glossary as the pair chapter 28 sets them: the same 重 laid on repletion and laid on vacuity. Vacuity, not emptiness — 虚 is a technical term here, not a poetic one.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths