Classica Sinica Medica

滿與實 简体 满与实

mǎn yǔ shí

Full and filled

Also rendered: full and filled (Keeps the two words apart) · fullness and repletion (Clinical vocabulary; obscures the food/essence contrast) · full and solid (Wrong: 實 here is not hardness)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
mǎn yǔ shí
Simplified
满与实
Literal
滿 full — a vessel holding what it is meant to hold; 實 filled, packed — a vessel with something put into it. Wang Bing's gloss is the whole point: essential qi makes full, water and grain make filled, and the two words are not degrees of one thing.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：滿，盈溢也；實，富也（从宀从貫，貫為貨物，引申為充實）。王冰：「精氣為滿，水穀為實。」

In brief

The chapter’s most quoted formula, and its cleanest piece of reasoning. Storing organs are full but cannot be filled, because what they hold is essence, which is not delivered in loads. Palaces are filled but cannot be full, because what they hold is food in transit, and it is always moving somewhere else — stomach full and bowels empty, then bowels full and stomach empty. Keeping the two English words apart is the only way to keep the formula.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Full is essence, filled is food 精氣為滿，水穀為實
王冰's gloss: the two are not degrees of the same thing
Wang Bing's gloss: the two are not degrees of the same thing.
所謂五藏者，藏精氣而不冩也，故滿而不能實 — 素問·五藏别論
2
The alternation 胃實而腸虚
Food moves, so the fullness is always somewhere else
Food moves, so the fullness is always somewhere else
水榖入口，則胃實而腸虚，食下則腸實而胃虚 — 素問·五藏别論
3
The formula 實而不滿，滿而不實
Palaces filled but not full; organs full but not filled
Palaces filled but not full; organs full but not filled
故曰實而不滿，滿而不實也 — 素問·五藏别論
4
Why the distinction is kept 藏瀉之斷
The chapter sorts parts by what they do; this pair is the test
The chapter sorts parts by what they do; this pair is the test
故藏而不冩…故冩而不藏 — 素問·五藏别論

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·五藏别論 Read in context →
所以然者，水榖入口，則胃實而腸虚，食下則腸實而胃虚，故曰實而不滿，滿而不實也。 所以然者，水谷入口，则胃实而肠虚，食下则肠实而胃虚，故曰实而不满，满而不实也。
suǒ yǐ rán zhě, shuǐ gǔ rù kǒu, zé wèi shí ér cháng xū, shí xià zé cháng shí ér wèi xū, gù yuē shí ér bù mǎn, mǎn ér bù shí yě.
Here is why it is so: when water and grain enter the mouth, the stomach is filled and the intestines empty; once the food has gone down, the intestines are filled and the stomach empty. Hence the saying — filled but not full, full but not filled.
王冰：「精氣為滿，水穀為實，但藏精氣，故滿而不能實。」又「以未下也」「水穀下也」二注，分釋胃實腸虚、腸實胃虚之時。「虚」底本作「虚」，為「虛」之俗字。
素問·異法方宜論 Read in context →
其民樂野處而乳食，藏寒生滿病。 其民乐野处而乳食，藏寒生满病。
qí mín lè yě chǔ ér rǔ shí, zàng hán shēng mǎn bìng.
Its people delight in living out in the open and live on milk; with cold stored within they develop diseases of fullness.
本篇「藏寒生滿病」之「滿」，為寒凝於中而脹滿，與第十一篇「滿而不能實」之「滿」（精氣之盈）同名而實異：一為水穀寒凝之實滿，一為精氣充盈之虛滿。新校正云：《甲乙經》無「滿」字，《太素》作「藏寒生病」。治宜灸爇，即溫以散之。

Compounds built on this term

滿
mǎn
full
說文：盈溢也。王冰：精氣為滿
實
shí
filled
說文：富也。王冰：水穀為實
精氣
jīng qì
essential qi
What makes an organ full
水榖
shuǐ gǔ
water and grain
What fills a palace; 底本字作「榖」，即「穀」之俗

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishfullness and repletionThe standard clinical pair, which reads both words as states of one continuum.
This sitefull and filledTwo ordinary words, one for each Chinese one. Wang Bing's gloss is a definition by content — essence versus food — and repletion turns it back into a degree of the same scale, which is exactly what the chapter is denying.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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