Dry retching · gan ou

Also rendered: Dry retching (Clinical) · Empty retching (Literal)

Reviewed · 2026-10-28

At a glance

Pinyin: gān ǒu
Simplified: 干呕
Literal: 乾 gān is dry, empty of substance; 嘔 ǒu is to bring up from the stomach. The phrase is exact: the retching happens and nothing comes. Beside it the book sets 嘔逆, which names the reversal of the stomach's qi rather than the emptiness of the effort.
Shuowen: **《說文》：「乾，上出也。」（此乾燥之乾，讀 gān）「嘔，吐也。」****底本一見**（5-13），在太陽中風條。**乾嘔與嘔逆之别**：嘔逆言氣逆，乾嘔言無物；傷寒提綱用嘔逆，中風條用乾嘔，一字之差，兩證之分。**乾嘔在桂枝湯證中與鼻鳴並見**，皆為風邪干胃、肺氣不利之象，非别有一病。**「乾」不作「干」**，底本从倝，此為乾燥字，非干犯字。

In brief

Retching with nothing brought up. It appears once, in the wind strike paragraph, paired with a ringing in the nose, and both are read as wind disturbing the stomach and the lung’s qi. The book distinguishes it from 嘔逆 not by severity but by what the word points at: 嘔逆 names the qi going the wrong way, 乾嘔 names the empty effort that results.

Senses in the classical corpus

A sign within wind strike 鼻鳴乾嘔者

風邪干胃則乾嘔，肺氣不利則鼻鳴；二者並見，為桂枝湯證之兼證

Wind disturbing the stomach brings dry retching; the lung's qi failing to course freely brings the ringing in the nose. The two appear together, and cinnamon twig decoction governs them.

嗇嗇惡寒，淅淅惡風，翕翕發熱，鼻鳴乾嘔者，桂枝湯主之 — 傷寒論·辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

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

傷寒論·辨太陽病脉證并治上第五 Read in context →

太陽中風，陽浮而陰弱，陽浮者，熱自發，陰弱者，汗自出。嗇嗇惡寒，淅淅惡風，翕翕發熱，鼻鳴乾嘔者，桂枝湯主之。太阳中风，阳浮而阴弱，阳浮者，热自发，阴弱者，汗自出。啬啬恶寒，淅淅恶风，翕翕发热，鼻鸣干呕者，桂枝汤主之。

tài yáng zhòng fēng yáng fú ér yīn ruò yáng fú zhě rè zì fā yīn ruò zhě hàn zì chū sè sè wù hán xī xī wù fēng xī xī fā rè bí míng gān ǒu zhě guì zhī tāng zhǔ zhī

Taiyang wind-strike: the yang floats and the yin is weak. Floating means heat arises of itself; weak means sweat comes out on its own. With shivering aversion to cold, a soughing dislike of wind, a smothering heat, ringing in the nose and dry retching, Cinnamon Twig Decoction governs.

**「乾嘔」五篇共1見**（經文，不含成注），本文引第5篇第13段。

Compounds built on this term

鼻鳴乾嘔

bí míng gān ǒu

ringing in the nose and dry retching

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

乾嘔者

gān ǒu zhě

where there is dry retching

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

嘔逆

ǒu nì

retching from reversed qi

辨太陽病脉證并治上第五

How it has been translated

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

This site	dry retching	keeps the emptiness the word insists on
Literal	dry vomiting	exact, and suggests something comes up
Clinical	retching without vomitus	clear, and longer than a headword

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-28

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