鳩尾简体鸠尾

jiū wěi

Dove's tail · jiu wei

Also rendered: Dove's tail (this site; the point at which the belly is measured from) · Xiphoid process (the anatomical name now current)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-03

At a glance

Pinyin: jiū wěi
Simplified: 鸠尾
Literal: 鳩 jiū — 《說文》鳩，鶻鵃也, a dove; the graph is 鳥 with 九 beside it, a short-tailed bird, and the base text writes it with the full 鳥 radical, which is the form this site keeps. 尾 wěi — 《說文》尾，微也, the tail, drawn as hair hanging behind a body. A dove's tail is short and fans out at the end, which is what the cartilage at the foot of the breast bone is said to look like; the modern name for it is the xiphoid process, but the chapter never describes it, only measures from it. Three lines of this chapter take their start here: the yang brilliance sets five points level with it — 俠鳩尾之外當乳下三寸，俠胃脘各五 — the conception vessel reckons down three inches from it to the stomach duct and five on, and the thoroughfare vessel begins half an inch outside it and comes down to the navel one inch at a time. Nothing in the graphs suggests a landmark; the chapter takes the place for granted and treats it as the rule.
Shuowen: 「鳩」讀 jiū、**本篇「鳩」3見，讀 jiū；从鳥不从隹，簡體列作「鸠」**；「尾」讀 wěi、**本篇「尾」5見，讀 wěi；别於「首尾」之尾而在「尻尾」「鳩尾」之中**；「胃」讀 wèi、**本篇「胃」3見**；「脘」讀 wǎn、**本篇「脘」3見，讀 wǎn；本站別有「胃脘」專目（id 1009）**；「齊」讀 qí、**本篇「齊」4見，讀 qí，通「臍」**；「横」讀 héng、**本篇「横」2見，讀 héng；不从从木之「橫」**；「骨」讀 gǔ、**「至横骨寸一」，本篇「骨」16見**；「寸」讀 cùn、**本篇「寸」15見，讀 cùn**；「半」讀 bàn、**「各半寸」之半，本篇「半」3見**；「衝」讀 chōng、**「衝脉」之衝讀 chōng，不从「冲」；本篇「衝」1見**；「任」讀 rèn、**本篇「任」1見**；「脉」讀 mài、**本篇「脉」14見**；「之」讀 zhī、**本篇「之」11見**；「法」讀 fǎ、**「腹脉法也」之法讀 fǎ，本篇「法」3見**

In brief

The bottom of the breast bone — the narrow cartilage that later anatomy calls the xiphoid process — named here for its shape, a dove’s tail. Chapter 59 is not interested in what it is; it is interested in the fact that measurements can begin there, and three of the chapter’s lines do begin there. The conception vessel reckons 鳩尾下三寸，胃脘五寸，and then 胃脘以下至横骨六寸半一, one point to the inch; the thoroughfare vessel runs 俠鳩尾外各半寸至齊寸一, again one to the inch; and the yang brilliance sets its five stomach-duct points level with the breast three inches below, outside it. Three occurrences in three ledgers, none of them describing anything. This is what distinguishes 鳩尾 from the chapter’s other named places — 三里 (id 1408), 人迎 (id 382), 缺盆 — which are counted as points; 鳩尾 is counted as well, but its real office in the text is to be the place the counting starts from. 鳩尾 occurs three times here and not elsewhere among the chapters transcribed so far.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 鳩尾

鳩者鶻鵃（《說文》）；尾者微也，獸末之稱

鳩尾下三寸 — Suwen 59

What it is 鳩尾下三寸

鳩尾即胸骨下端之軟骨，今謂之劍突

鳩尾下三寸 — Suwen 59

The conception vessel reckons down from it 胃脘以下至横骨六寸半一

鳩尾下三寸至胃脘，胃脘下至横骨六寸半，每一寸一穴

胃脘以下至横骨六寸半一 — Suwen 59

The thoroughfare vessel begins outside it 俠鳩尾外各半寸至齊寸一

自鳩尾外各開半寸下行至齊，每寸一穴

俠鳩尾外各半寸至齊寸一 — Suwen 59

The yang brilliance sets its line level with it 俠鳩尾之外當乳下三寸，俠胃脘各五

俠鳩尾之外當乳下三寸處起，俠胃脘各五穴

俠鳩尾之外當乳下三寸，俠胃脘各五 — Suwen 59

What sort of rule that is 腹脉法也

自鳩尾起算而每寸一穴，是腹脉立法之本；本篇「法」凡3見

腹脉法也 — Suwen 59

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

1 passages

Suwen 59 Suwen 59 · 氣府論 Read in context →

任脉之氣所發者二十八穴：喉中央二，膺中骨陷中各一，鳩尾下三寸，胃脘五寸，胃脘以下至横骨六寸半一，腹脉法也。任脉之气所发者二十八穴：喉中央二，膺中骨陷中各一，鸠尾下三寸，胃脘五寸，胃脘以下至横骨六寸半一，腹脉法也。

Rèn mài zhī qì suǒ fā zhě èr shí bā xué: hóu zhōng yāng èr, yīng zhōng gǔ xiàn zhōng gè yī, jiū wěi xià sān cùn, wèi wǎn wǔ cùn, wèi wǎn yǐ xià zhì héng gǔ liù cùn bàn yī, fù mài fǎ yě.

What the qi of the conception vessel sends forth is twenty-eight points: two at the centre of the throat; one each in the hollow of the bone in the chest; three inches from the dove’s tail down to the stomach duct, five inches on; from the stomach duct down to the cross bone, six and a half inches, one point to the inch — this is the method of counting by the belly vessels.

**「鳩尾」本篇3見——「鳩」讀 jiū、**本篇「鳩」3見，讀 jiū；从鳥不从隹**；「尾」讀 wěi、**本篇「尾」5見，讀 wěi**；「齊」讀 qí、**本篇「齊」4見，讀 qí，通「臍」**；「横」讀 héng、**本篇「横」2見，讀 héng；底本从木作「横」，不从「橫」**；「衝」讀 chōng、**本篇「衝」1見，讀 chōng**；「任」讀 rèn、**本篇「任」1見**；「胃」讀 wèi、「脘」讀 wǎn、**本篇「胃脘」3見，本站別立專目（id 1009）**；「寸」讀 cùn、**本篇「寸」15見**；「法」讀 fǎ、**「腹脉法也」之法讀 fǎ，本篇「法」3見**

Compounds built on this term

鳩尾下三寸

jiū wěi xià sān cùn

three inches below the dove's tail

任脉條一見，本篇「鳩尾」凡3見

俠鳩尾之外

xié jiū wěi zhī wài

flanking it, outside it

足陽明條一見；「俠」讀 xié，本篇8見

俠鳩尾外各半寸

xié jiū wěi wài gè bàn cùn

half an inch outside it, either side

衝脉條一見

至横骨寸一

zhì héng gǔ cùn yī

one to the inch, down to the cross bone

衝脉條一見；本篇「横」2見

How it has been translated

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

This site	dove's tail	taken from the two graphs; the name is a shape seen in a bird, which is the only reason the text gives for calling the foot of the breast bone anything at all
Anatomical	xiphoid process	exact and colourless; what is lost is why a list of points should begin here rather than somewhere else
Acupuncture	Jiuwei · CV 15	the point later practice set there, and the first term of every belly measurement descended from this chapter

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-03

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