疽

jū

The flat abscess · ju

Also rendered: Deep abscess (clinical, and it is a description not a name) · Flat abscess (plain, and it keeps the shape) · The flat abscess (the site's convention, paired with 癰)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-26

At a glance

Pinyin: jū
Simplified: 疽
Literal: 疽 jū — the sore that does not rise: deep, flat, dark, and slow. The graph has 疒 for sickness and 且 for its sound; the word it answers to is 阻, what is blocked and stays blocked.
Shuowen: 《說文》：疽，癰也。从疒且聲。劉熙《釋名·釋疾病》：「疽，阻也，氣血爲邪所阻而作也。」此篇以癰爲淺、疽爲深，疽之名十餘，皆發於一處而深著於筋骨。

In brief

A 疽 is the deep, flat, slow sore, as against the 癰 that rises, reddens and comes to a head. The chapter gives the mechanism before the names: 寒邪客於經絡之中則血泣，血泣則不通，不通則衛氣歸之，不得復反，故癰腫；寒氣化爲𤍠，𤍠勝則腐肉，肉腐則爲膿 — cold lodges in the network vessels, the blood congeals, the defending qi gathers and cannot return, and there is swelling; then cold turns to heat, heat rots the flesh, and the flesh rots into pus. What makes a sore a 疽 rather than a 癰 is depth and place: the chapter then names fifteen of them by the site they rise from — throat, neck, shoulder, armpit, chest, breast, flank, thigh, rump, knee — and fixes a term for each, with a deadline. 疽 is thus the chapter’s unit of classification, and the reason the chapter can say 凡此數氣者，其發無常處，而有常名也.

Senses in the classical corpus

名之始癰發於嗌中，名曰猛疽

癰生在咽中的，名叫猛疽

The first of the named sores: an abscess at the throat is called a fierce 疽.

名曰猛疽 — 靈樞·癰疽

與癰對舉願盡聞癰疽之形，與忌曰名

想聽盡癰疽的形狀、禁忌與名稱

The chapter's subject: the form, the taboos and the names of 癰 and 疽.

癰疽之形 — 靈樞·癰疽

成膿之理寒氣化爲𤍠，𤍠勝則腐肉

寒氣化成熱，熱勝就腐肉

Cold turns to heat, heat rots the flesh: how a 疽 comes to pus.

寒氣化爲𤍠 — 靈樞·癰疽

死生之期不急治，三十日死矣

不趕快治，三十日就死

Each named sore carries its own deadline — thirty days, sixty, a hundred.

三十日死矣 — 靈樞·癰疽

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·癰疽 Read in context →

夫血脉營衛，周流不休，上應星宿，下應經數，寒邪客於經絡之中則血泣，血泣則不通，不通則衛氣歸之，不得復反，故癰腫。寒氣化爲𤍠，𤍠勝則腐肉，肉腐則爲膿，膿不寫則爛筋，筋爛則傷骨，骨傷則髓消，不當骨空，不得泄寫，血枯空虚，則筋骨肌肉不相榮，經脉敗漏，薰於五藏，藏傷故死矣。黃帝曰：願盡聞癰疽之形，與忌曰名。歧伯曰：癰發於嗌中，名曰猛疽。猛疽不治，化爲膿，膿不寫，塞咽，半日死。其化爲膿者，寫則合豕膏，冷食三日而已。夫血脉营卫，周流不休，上应星宿，下应经数，寒邪客于经络之中则血泣，血泣则不通，不通则卫气归之，不得复反，故痈肿。寒气化为𤍠，𤍠胜则腐肉，肉腐则为脓，脓不写则烂筋，筋烂则伤骨，骨伤则髓消，不当骨空，不得泄写，血枯空虚，则筋骨肌肉不相荣，经脉败漏，薰于五藏，藏伤故死矣。黄帝曰：愿尽闻痈疽之形，与忌曰名。歧伯曰：痈发于嗌中，名曰猛疽。猛疽不治，化为脓，脓不写，塞咽，半日死。其化为脓者，写则合豕膏，冷食三日而已。

fū xuè mài yíng wèi, zhōu liú bù xiū, shàng yīng xīng sù, xià yīng jīng shù, hán xié kè yú jīng luò zhī zhōng zé xuè sè, xuè sè zé bù tōng, bù tōng zé wèi qì guī zhī, bù dé fù fǎn, gù yōng zhǒng. hán qì huà wéi rè, rè shèng zé fǔ ròu, ròu fǔ zé wéi nóng, nóng bù xiè zé làn jīn, jīn làn zé shāng gǔ, gǔ shāng zé suǐ xiāo, bù dāng gǔ kōng, bù dé xiè xiè, xuè kū kōng xū, zé jīn gǔ jī ròu bù xiāng róng, jīng mài bài lòu, xūn yú wǔ zàng, zàng shāng gù sǐ yǐ. Huáng Dì yuē: yuàn jìn wén yōng jū zhī xíng, yǔ jì yuē míng. Qí Bó yuē: yōng fā yú yì zhōng, míng yuē měng jū. měng jū bù zhì, huà wéi nóng, nóng bù xiè, sāi yān, bàn rì sǐ. qí huà wéi nóng zhě, xiè zé hé shǐ gāo, lěng shí sān rì ér yǐ.

Blood vessels, guarding and nutritive flow on without rest, above answering to the stars, below to the number of the channels. When cold evil lodges in channels and network vessels the blood is rough; rough, it does not pass; not passing, guarding qi returns to it and cannot turn back, and so abscess and swelling form. Cold qi transforms into heat; heat winning rots the flesh; flesh rotted makes pus; pus not drained rots the sinew; sinew rotted injures the bone; bone injured, the marrow dissolves. Not at a bone hollow, it cannot be drained; blood dries and empties, sinew, bone and flesh no longer nourish each other, the channels decay and leak, and it smokes the five viscera; the viscera injured, death follows. The Emperor said: I wish to hear fully the forms of abscess and deep sore, with their taboo days and names. Qi Bo said: An abscess arising in the throat is called the fierce sore. Untreated it turns to pus; if the pus is not drained it blocks the throat and death comes in half a day. If it has turned to pus, drain it and apply pig fat, and eat cold for three days and it is done.

「疽」本篇15見，先言寒客經絡血泣不通、寒化爲熱腐肉爲膿，次列猛疽以次十五名，名實俱備，故引二段。

Compounds built on this term

猛疽

měng jū

the fierce abscess

發於嗌中，半日死

天疽

tiān jū

the heaven abscess

發於頸，大以赤黑

鋭疽

ruì jū

the sharp abscess

發於尻，赤堅大

How it has been translated

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

This site	the flat abscess	the shape as the mark
Literal	ju sore	exact, and it says nothing
Clinical	a deep cold abscess	clear, and it explains the mechanism

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-26

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