Fat qi · fei qi

Also rendered: Fat qi (literal, and it keeps the name a name) · Rich qi (smoother, and it suggests a quality rather than a mass)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-24

At a glance

Pinyin: féi qì
Simplified: 肥气
Literal: 肥 féi — fat, rich; 氣 qì — qi. The name of an accumulation, so called from its soft full mass.
Shuowen: 《說文》：肥，多肉也；氣，雲氣也。「肥氣」本篇1見，與「伏梁」「息賁」「奔豚」同為五積之一。「肥」字1見，唯此一處。

In brief

One of the five accumulations, the one belonging to the liver. The chapter gives it in the liver’s pulse series: 微急，爲肥氣，在脅下，若覆杯 — a slightly urgent liver pulse gives fat qi below the flanks, like an overturned cup. The place is the liver’s own region, and the image is precise: a rounded mass whose edge can be felt and whose underside cannot. Later texts made the five accumulations a system — 肥氣 for the liver, 伏梁 for the heart, 痞氣 for the spleen, 息賁 for the lung, 奔豚 for the kidney — and this chapter is where four of the five names first stand together, each attached to a pulse rather than to a doctrine.

Senses in the classical corpus

The name 肥氣

肝積之名

The accumulation named fat qi.

微急，爲肥氣 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

Its place and shape 在脅下，若覆杯

脅下如覆杯之狀

Below the flanks, like an overturned cup.

在脅下，若覆杯 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

Its pulse 肝脉急甚者，爲惡言

肝脉微急則為肥氣

It follows a slightly urgent liver pulse.

肝脉急甚者，爲惡言；微急，爲肥氣 — 靈樞·邪氣藏府病形

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

靈樞·邪氣藏府病形 Read in context →

肝脉急甚者，爲惡言；微急，爲肥氣，在脅下，若覆杯；緩甚，爲善嘔；微緩，爲水瘕痺也。太甚，爲内癰，善嘔衄；微大，爲肝痺陰縮，欬引小腹。小甚，爲多飲；微小，爲消癉；滑甚，爲㿉疝；微滑，爲遺溺；濇甚，爲溢飲；微濇，爲瘈攣筋痺。肝脉急甚者，为恶言；微急，为肥气，在胁下，若覆杯；缓甚，为善呕；微缓，为水瘕痹也。太甚，为内痈，善呕衄；微大，为肝痹阴缩，欬引小腹。小甚，为多饮；微小，为消瘅；滑甚，为㿉疝；微滑，为遗溺；涩甚，为溢饮；微涩，为瘈挛筋痹。

gān mài jí shèn zhě, wéi è yán; wēi jí, wéi féi qì, zài xié xià, ruò fù bēi; huǎn shèn, wéi shàn ǒu; wēi huǎn, wéi shuǐ jiǎ bì yě. tài shèn, wéi nèi yōng, shàn ǒu nǜ; wēi dà, wéi gān bì yīn suō, kài yǐn xiǎo fù. xiǎo shèn, wéi duō yǐn; wēi xiǎo, wéi xiāo dān; huá shèn, wéi tuí shàn; wēi huá, wéi yí niào; sè shèn, wéi yì yǐn; wēi sè, wéi zhì luán jīn bì.

When the liver pulse is extremely urgent there is evil speech; slightly urgent, there is fat qi below the flanks, like an overturned cup; extremely slow, there is frequent vomiting; slightly slow, there is water-mass block. Too extreme, there is internal abscess with frequent vomiting of blood and nosebleed; slightly large, there is liver block with shrinking of the genitals, and cough pulling the lower abdomen. Extremely small, there is much drinking; slightly small, there is wasting thirst; extremely slippery, there is hanging hernia; slightly slippery, there is enuresis; extremely rough, there is overflowing drink; slightly rough, there is tetanic contraction and sinew block.

「肥氣」本篇1見，在肝脉「微急」之下。四積之名同見本篇：肥氣（肝）、伏梁（心）、息賁（肺）、奔豚（腎），唯脾積不見，而脾脉自有「疝氣」「腸㿉」諸文。五積配五藏，成於後世，此篇尚未立說，故只隨脉而言。

Compounds built on this term

五積

wǔ jī

the five accumulations

後世通名

伏梁

fú liáng

the hidden beam

本篇心脉

息賁

xī bēn

rushing breath

本篇肺脉

How it has been translated

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

This site	fat qi	the chapter uses it as a name, and the site does not translate names away
Literal	fat qi	the same
Clinical	hepatic accumulation	clear, and it replaces the text's word with a later category

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-24

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