Classica Sinica Medica

蕃秀

fán xiù

Flourishing and fair · fan xiu

Also rendered: Flourishing and bloom (this site; it keeps both halves of 蕃秀, the thickness and the flowering) · Fan xiu (transliteration; used when the four season names are quoted together as a set)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-09

At a glance

Pinyin
fán xiù
Simplified
蕃秀
Literal
蕃 fán — dense growth, overgrowth (《說文》: 蕃，艸茂也); 秀 xiù — the grain in flower, and by extension what is fine and fair (《說文》: 秀，禾吐華也). Wang Bing glosses 蕃 as 茂也、盛也 and 秀 as 華也、美也, and Ma Shi reads the two together: 陽氣已盛，物蕃且秀. 蕃秀 therefore names the season at its thickest — not merely growing, as in spring, but full and in flower.
Shuowen
**「蕃」讀 fán，本篇1見**；**「秀」讀 xiù，本篇2見**；**「蕃秀」本篇1見**；**《說文》：蕃，艸茂也；秀，禾吐華也**；**王冰注：蕃，茂也，盛也；秀，華也，美也**

In brief

The name Suwen 2 gives to the three months of summer. Heaven and earth have come together, and things are at their thickest and in flower. The rule drawn from it is the rule for summer: sleep at night and rise early, do not weary of the long days, keep the will free of anger, and let the qi find its way out — as though what you loved were outside you. Breaking it harms the heart, autumn brings jie malaria, and the illness is grave at the winter solstice.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 蕃秀
蕃者茂也，秀者華也；蕃秀謂既盛且華
夏三月，此謂蕃秀 — Suwen 2
2
Heaven and earth joined 天地氣交
天氣下降，地氣上升，二氣相交
夏三月，此謂蕃秀。天地氣交，萬物華實 — Suwen 2
3
Things in flower and fruit 萬物華實
華讀 huā，開花；實謂結實
天地氣交，萬物華實 — Suwen 2
4
Not wearying of the sun 無厭於日
夏日長，不可厭倦
夜卧早起，無厭於日，使志無怒 — Suwen 2
5
The bloom of the person 使華英成秀
華英謂容色神氣，使之充盛秀美
使志無怒，使華英成秀，使氣得泄 — Suwen 2
6
What breaking it costs 逆之則傷心，秋爲痎瘧
逆夏氣則心傷，至秋而為痎瘧，冬至病重
逆之則傷心，秋爲痎瘧，奉收者少，冬至重病 — Suwen 2

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·四氣調神大論 Suwen 2 · 四氣調神大論 Read in context →
夏三月，此謂蕃秀。天地氣交，萬物華實。夜卧早起，無厭於日，使志無怒，使華英成秀，使氣得泄，若所愛在外。此夏氣之應，養長之道也。逆之則傷心，秋爲痎瘧，奉收者少，冬至重病。 夏三月，此谓蕃秀。天地气交，万物华实。夜卧早起，无厌于日，使志无怒，使华英成秀，使气得泄，若所爱在外。此夏气之应，养长之道也。逆之则伤心，秋为痎疟，奉收者少，冬至重病。
Xià sān yuè, cǐ wèi fán xiù. tiān dì qì jiāo, wàn wù huā shí. yè wò zǎo qǐ, wú yàn yú rì, shǐ zhì wú nù, shǐ huā yīng chéng xiù, shǐ qì dé xiè, ruò suǒ ài zài wài. cǐ xià qì zhī yìng, yǎng zhǎng zhī dào yě. nì zhī zé shāng xīn, qiū wéi jiē nüè, fèng shōu zhě shǎo, dōng zhì zhòng bìng.
The three months of summer are called flourishing and fair. The qi of heaven and earth intermingle; the ten thousand things flower and set fruit. Sleep at night and rise early, do not weary of the sun, keep the will free from anger, let the flowering brilliance come to its bloom, and let the qi find its outlet, as though what one loved were outside. This is the answer to the qi of summer, and it is the way of nourishing growth. Going against it harms the heart; in autumn there is jie malaria, there is little to hand on to what must gather in, and at the winter solstice the illness is grave.
**「蕃秀」本篇1見**；**「華實」之華讀 huā，古花字**；**「冬至重病」之重讀 zhòng，王冰注：冬水勝火，故重病於冬至之時**

Compounds built on this term

天地氣交
tiān dì qì jiāo
the qi of heaven and earth intermingling
本篇1見
萬物華實
wàn wù huā shí
the ten thousand things flower and set fruit
本篇1見
使氣得泄
shǐ qì dé xiè
letting the qi find its outlet
本篇1見
養長之道
yǎng zhǎng zhī dào
the way of nourishing growth
本篇1見

How it has been translated

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

This siteFlourishing and fair · fan xiu秀 as 華也、美也 carries both the flowering and the fairness, and the chapter means both
Literaldense and in flowerclosest to Wang Bing's gloss; loses the fairness that 秀 also carries
Descriptivethe fullness of summersmooth, but it drops the grain-in-ear picture that makes 秀 a summer word

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-09

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