Sorghum millet · shu mi

Also rendered: Sticky millet (plain, and it says what the grain does) · Glutinous panicled millet (precise, and unreadable) · Sorghum millet (the common rendering, kept here)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-26

At a glance

Pinyin: shú mǐ
Simplified: 秫米
Literal: 秫 shú — the glutinous variety of millet, the grain that sticks; 米 mǐ — husked grain. Together: one sheng of sticky millet, the only solid in the decoction.
Shuowen: 《說文》：秫，稷之黏者。从禾术聲。段注謂稷即粟，黏者別名秫，北人謂之黃米。《本草綱目》以秫爲糯粟，其性黏，能和胃安神，故半夏湯用之。

In brief

One sheng of glutinous millet, added to the boiling water in the pinellia decoction. Its function in the formula is twofold and the chapter says neither: the starch gives the decoction a body that holds the pinellia’s sharpness off the stomach, and a sticky grain settles what the chapter calls the qi that will not stay down. It is also the reason the decoction is strained and drunk as a clear liquid — 去其滓，飲汁一小杯 — the grain is cooked to exhaustion and thrown away. In the pharmacology of the period 秫 belongs with 黍 under 稷, the glutinous millet of the north, as against 稻 and 粱.

Senses in the classical corpus

藥量置秫米一升

放入秫米一升

One sheng of glutinous millet goes into the pot.

秫米一升 — 靈樞·邪客

用法去其滓，飲汁一小杯

濾去藥渣，只喝一小杯藥汁

The grain is strained out; only the liquid is drunk.

去其滓 — 靈樞·邪客

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·邪客 Read in context →

伯高曰：其湯方以流水千里以外者八升，揚之萬遍，取其清五升煮之，炊以葦薪，火沸，置秫米一升，治半夏五合，徐炊，令竭爲一升半，去其滓，飲汁一小杯，日三稍益，以知爲度。故其病新發者，覆杯則卧，汗出則已矣。久者三飲而已也。伯高曰：其汤方以流水千里以外者八升，扬之万遍，取其清五升煮之，炊以苇薪，火沸，置秫米一升，治半夏五合，徐炊，令竭为一升半，去其滓，饮汁一小杯，日三稍益，以知为度。故其病新发者，覆杯则卧，汗出则已矣。久者三饮而已也。

Bó Gāo yuē: qí tāng fāng yǐ liú shuǐ qiān lǐ yǐ wài zhě bā shēng, yáng zhī wàn biàn, qǔ qí qīng wǔ shēng zhǔ zhī, chuī yǐ wěi xīn, huǒ fèi, zhì shú mǐ yī shēng, zhì bàn xià wǔ hé, xú chuī, lìng jié wéi yī shēng bàn, qù qí zǐ, yǐn zhī yī xiǎo bēi, rì sān shāo yì, yǐ zhī wéi dù. gù qí bìng xīn fā zhě, fù bēi zé wò, hàn chū zé yǐ yǐ. jiǔ zhě sān yǐn ér yǐ yě.

Bo Gao said: The prescription takes eight sheng of water from a stream a thousand li away, lifts it ten thousand times, takes five sheng of the clear part and boils it over a reed fire. When it boils, put in one sheng of glutinous millet and five ge of prepared pinellia; simmer slowly until reduced to one and a half sheng; remove the dregs and drink a small cup of the liquid three times a day, gradually increasing, taking awareness as the measure. If the illness is newly arisen, the cup is set down and he sleeps; when sweat comes he is finished. If it is of long standing, three drinks and it is done.

「秫米」本篇1見，在半夏湯煎法之中，與治半夏同下，故引煎法全段。

Compounds built on this term

秫黍

shú shǔ

glutinous millet

黏黍，即秫

How it has been translated

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

This site	sorghum millet	the grain as a drug
Literal	glutinous grain	exact, and it loses the species
Botanical	Setaria italica glutinosa	exact, and unfit for a page of text

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-26

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