Classica Sinica Medica

五入

wǔ rù

Fivefold entry · wu ru

Also rendered: fivefold entry (Keeps 入 as a verb of going) · the five entries (Plainer; suggests a list rather than a movement) · where the five flavours enter (Expands the term into what the sentence says) · wu ru (Bare transliteration)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
wǔ rù
Simplified
五入
Literal
入 is the plainest of graphs — 《說文》 glosses it 內也, to be inside, and explains the shape as something coming down from above — and the chapter uses it without ornament. A flavour does not suit an organ or benefit it; it goes into it. The whole chapter rests on that verb, because a flavour that only entered the mouth could not later be forbidden from reaching the blood.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：入，內也。象从上俱下也。五，五行也。从二，陰陽在天地閒交午也。本篇「五味所入」之目：酸入肝，辛入肺，苦入心，鹹入腎，甘入脾。

In brief

Chapter 23 opens with the shortest of its tables and the one that underwrites the rest: each of the five flavours goes to its own viscus. Note that the matching is by phase and not by taste — sour and the liver are both wood, bitter and the heart both fire — so the entry is not a remark about palates. It is the premise for the fifth entry in the chapter, the five prohibitions, where a flavour is forbidden precisely because of where it arrives.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The opening table 五味所入
五味各歸其所屬之臟
五味所入：酸入肝，辛入肺，苦入心，鹹入腎，甘入脾 — Suwen 23
2
Matched by phase, not by taste 酸入肝
酸與肝同屬木，非以滋味相悅
酸入肝 — Suwen 23
3
The premise of the prohibitions 辛走氣，氣病
以其所入之位定其所禁之時
辛走氣，氣病，無多食辛 — Suwen 23
4
The same five put to work elsewhere 各有所利
第二十二篇以五味為補瀉之具
此五者，有辛、酸、甘、苦、鹹，各有所利 — Suwen 22
5
The five flavours as nourishment and injury 陰之所生，本在五味
本站第九篇「五味」條所載
陰之所生，本在五味；陰之五宫，傷在五味 — Suwen 3

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
素問·宣明五氣 Suwen 23 · 宣明五氣 Read in context →
五味所入：酸入肝，辛入肺，苦入心，鹹入腎，甘入脾，是謂五入。 五味所入：酸入肝，辛入肺，苦入心，咸入肾，甘入脾，是谓五入。
Wǔ wèi suǒ rù: suān rù gān, xīn rù fèi, kǔ rù xīn, xián rù shèn, gān rù pí, shì wèi wǔ rù.
Where the five flavours enter: sour enters the liver, acrid enters the lung, bitter enters the heart, salty enters the kidney, sweet enters the spleen. This is called the fivefold entry.
本篇開卷第一條即「五味所入」，其要在「入」字——五味不是可口的東西，而是各有所歸的東西。酸與肝同屬木、苦與心同屬火、甘與脾同屬土、辛與肺同屬金、鹹與腎同屬水，故所入之位，即五行之位。下文「五味所禁」一條（辛走氣、鹹走血、苦走骨、甘走肉、酸走筋）正是本條之反用：既知其所入，則知其病在某處者當禁某味。第九篇「陰之所生，本在五味；陰之五宫，傷在五味」，已發五味養傷之兩面而未立所入之目；第二十二篇則以五味為補瀉之具，皆與本條相為首尾。

Compounds built on this term

五味
wǔ wèi
the five flavours
本站第九篇已立目
五入
wǔ rù
the fivefold entry
本篇開卷第一條之目
所入
suǒ rù
where it enters
與下文「所禁」「所藏」「所主」同一句法
走
zǒu
to move into
本篇「辛走氣」之走，與入義近而別
酸苦甘辛鹹
suān kǔ gān xīn xián
sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, salty
本篇兩見（所入、所禁）

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengthe five [flavours] enterThey render 入 literally and let the organ follow, which keeps the movement visible in English.
Unschuldthe five flavours enter [the respective depot]He supplies the object, since 入 without one reads oddly in English.
This sitefivefold entryChapter 23 needs the verb to travel: the entry table at the start and the prohibition table in the middle are the same claim, and 'entry' is what makes the second one follow from the first.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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