耳鳴简体耳鸣

ěr míng

Ringing in the ears · er ming

Also rendered: Ringing in the ears (this site; the plain symptom, with the seasonal explanation left to the chapter) · Tinnitus (the clinical name; it drops the reason the chapter gives for the sound)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-01

At a glance

Pinyin: ěr míng
Simplified: 耳鸣
Literal: 耳 ěr, the ear; 鳴 míng, to sound — of a bell, of a bird, and here of an ear that sounds though nothing has sounded it. Chapter 49 explains it entirely from above: in the first month yang qi makes the myriad things flourish and leap upward, and the same leap in the person is what is heard as ringing. Nothing in the sentence is about the ear.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：耳，主聽也，象形。鳴，鳥聲也，从鳥从口。「耳」讀 ěr、「鳴」讀 míng、**各本篇2見，皆在「耳鳴」一語**；「躍」讀 yuè、**本篇3見**；**「躍」者，本篇釋耳鳴、釋九月之氣，皆以「躍」言之**。

In brief

Ringing in the ears, and chapter 49’s clearest example of how this chapter explains a symptom: not from the part affected, but from the month. Greater yang governs the first month, and in the first month yang qi that should still be low rises instead; the upward leap is what is heard.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graph 耳鳴

耳主聽，鳴謂自作之聲

所謂耳鳴者 — Suwen 49

The month 正月

太陽配正月，陽氣出在上

正月陽氣出在上 — Suwen 49

The mechanism 躍

陽氣使萬物盛上而躍，人身之陽應之

陽氣萬物盛上而躍，故耳鳴也 — Suwen 49

The same word, in autumn 甚則躍

九月氣去陽而之陰，亦謂之躍

故謂躍 — Suwen 49

What it is not 不在耳竅

篇中不言耳病，而言氣之上下

皆在氣也 — Suwen 49

The method 以時釋證

本篇諸證皆以月令陰陽釋之

正月陽氣出在上 — Suwen 49

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

2 passages

Suwen 49 Suwen 49 · 脉解 Read in context →

所謂耳鳴者，陽氣萬物盛上而躍，故耳鳴也。所谓耳鸣者，阳气万物盛上而跃，故耳鸣也。

Suǒ wèi ěr míng zhě, yáng qì wàn wù shèng shàng ér yuè, gù ěr míng yě.

What is called ringing in the ears: yang qi makes the myriad things flourish and leap upward, and in the person too yang leaps above; hence the ringing.

**「耳鳴」本篇2見——「耳」讀 ěr、「鳴」讀 míng、**各本篇2見**；「躍」讀 yuè、**本篇3見**；「萬」讀 wàn、**本篇8見**；**耳鳴與下文「甚則躍」同用一「躍」字，一在正月、一在九月**。

Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →

厥陰司天，風氣下臨，脾氣上從，而土且隆，黄起水乃眚，土用革。體重肌肉萎，食減口爽。風行太虚，雲物摇動，目轉耳鳴。火縱其暴，地乃暑，大熱消爍，赤沃下。蟄蟲數見，流水不冰，其發機速。厥阴司天，风气下临，脾气上从，而土且隆，黄起水乃眚，土用革。体重肌肉萎，食减口爽。风行太虚，云物摇动，目转耳鸣。火纵其暴，地乃暑，大热消烁，赤沃下。蛰虫数见，流水不冰，其发机速。

Jué yīn sī tiān, fēng qì xià lín, pí qì shàng cóng, ér tǔ qiě lóng, huáng qǐ shuǐ nǎi shěng, tǔ yòng gé. Tǐ zhòng jī ròu wěi, shí jiǎn kǒu shuǎng. Fēng xíng tài xū, yún wù yáo dòng, mù zhuǎn ěr míng. Huǒ zòng qí bào, dì nǎi shǔ, dà rè xiāo shuò, chì wò xià. Zhé chóng shuò xiàn, liú shuǐ bù bīng, qí fā jī sù.

When ceasing yin governs the heaven the qi of wind descends upon it and the qi of the spleen follows upward; earth then rises high, yellow arises and water suffers calamity, and earth is used in change. The illness is a heavy body with wasting of the flesh, diminished eating and a spoiled taste in the mouth. Wind moves through the great void, clouds and things shake and move, the eyes turn and the ears ring. Fire gives free rein to its violence and earth turns to summer heat; great heat consumes and melts and red matter pours down. Burrowing insects appear again and again, running water does not freeze, and its outbreak is swift.

**「耳鳴」本篇1見，止在厥陰司天「目轉耳鳴」**；**風氣下臨，故目轉而耳鳴**

Compounds built on this term

耳鳴

ěr míng

ringing in the ears

本篇二見

耳

ěr

the ear

本篇二見

鳴

míng

to sound

本篇二見

躍

yuè

leaping

本篇三見

How it has been translated

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

This site	ringing in the ears	the ordinary English for the complaint, since nothing in the chapter makes it a disease of the ear
Later medicine	耳鳴 ěr míng, tinnitus	read as kidney depletion or ascendant liver yang, depending on the school
Modern editions	tinnitus	the single clinical term

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-01

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