毫毛

háo máo

The down · hao mao

Also rendered: The down (this site; the fine hair of the surface, kept apart from 皮毛 and from the pulse sense of 毛) · Fine body hair; vellus (the anatomical terms; the second is modern and would narrow the word to one kind of hair)

Reviewed · 2026-10-01

At a glance

Pinyin
háo máo
Simplified
毫毛
Literal
毫 háo — a long, fine hair; 毛 máo — the hair of the head, the brow and the body alike. 《說文》gives 毛 in its own words: 眉髮之屬及獸毛也. 毫 is not in the 說文; its older form is 豪, which the 說文 glosses as the bristle of a pig stiff as a brush-handle, and from that stiffness comes the sense of a long, tapering hair. Chapter 50 binds the two graphs to 腠理 and makes the pair the first of its seven depths: the place where the needle may go, and not one layer further.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:毛,眉髮之屬及獸毛也,象形。「毫」《說文》不載,其本字為「豪」,《說文》:「豪,豕鬣如筆管者」,引申為長銳之毛,《玉篇》:「毫,長毛也」。「毫」讀 háo、**本篇2見,皆在「毫毛」一語**;「毛」讀 máo、**本篇2見**;「腠」讀 còu、**本篇2見**;**「毫毛」二字皆在「毫毛腠理」一語之中,本篇二見,詳本篇校勘第四條之「解㑊」條**。

In brief

The fine hair of the body’s surface, and the outermost of the seven depths chapter 50 sets out. It occurs twice, both times inside the single phrase 毫毛腠理: illness that sits there is to be needled there, and the skin beneath it is not to be touched. The site’s entry for 毛 (id 613) is the autumn quality of the pulse, a different word; 皮毛 (id 1126) is skin and body hair taken together as the lung’s counterpart.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 毫毛
毫為長銳之毛,本字作豪;毛為眉髮之屬
病有在毫毛腠理者 — Suwen 50
2
The first depth 毫毛腠理
七者之中最外一層,與腠理連言
病有在毫毛腠理者 — Suwen 50
3
The rule for it 無傷皮
刺毫毛腠理者,止於毫毛,皮不可傷
是故刺毫毛腠理無傷皮 — Suwen 50
4
Why the depth matters 各至其理
病各有其所在之層,刺各至其當至之處
各至其理,無過其道 — Suwen 50
5
What follows if it is missed 皮傷則内動肺
過毫毛而傷皮,則内動於肺
皮傷則内動肺,肺動則秋病温瘧 — Suwen 50
6
What it is not 毫毛非皮毛
皮毛(id 1126)為肺之合,毛(id 613)為秋脉之毛,二者皆與此別
病有在毫毛腠理者 — Suwen 50

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
4 passages
Suwen 50 Suwen 50 · 刺要論 Read in context →
是故刺毫毛腠理無傷皮,皮傷則内動肺,肺動則秋病温瘧,泝泝然寒慄。 是故刺毫毛腠理无伤皮,皮伤则内动肺,肺动则秋病温疟,泝泝然寒栗。
Shì gù cì háo máo còu lǐ wú shāng pí, pí shāng zé nèi dòng fèi, fèi dòng zé qiū bìng wēn nüè, sù sù rán hán lì.
Therefore when needling the down and the interstices do not wound the skin. If the skin is wounded the lung is stirred within, and once the lung is stirred there is warm malaria in autumn, shivering and shuddering with cold.
**「毫毛」本篇2見,皆在「毫毛腠理」一語——「毫」讀 háo、**本篇2見**;「毛」讀 máo、**本篇2見**;「腠」讀 còu、**本篇2見,見 id 1146「腠理」**;「皮」讀 pí、**本篇4見,此刺之不可傷者**;「肺」讀 fèi、**本篇2見**;「泝」讀 sù、**「泝泝然寒慄」之泝,讀 sù,本篇二見,詳本篇校勘第二條**;**皮傷則内動肺,肺動則秋病温瘧——此本篇「過之則内傷」之一例**。
素問·皮部論 Suwen 56 · 皮部論 Read in context →
邪之始入於皮也,泝然起毫毛,開腠理,其入於絡也,則絡脉盛,色變,其入客於經也,則感虚乃陷下。 邪之始入于皮也,泝然起毫毛,开腠理,其入于络也,则络脉盛,色变,其入客于经也,则感虚乃陷下。
Xié zhī shǐ rù yú pí yě, sù rán qǐ háo máo, kāi còu lǐ, qí rù yú luò yě, zé luò mài shèng, sè biàn, qí rù kè yú jīng yě, zé gǎn xū nǎi xiàn xià.
When the evil first enters the skin, there is a shivering that raises the down and opens the interstices. On entering the network vessels, those vessels are full and the colour changes. On lodging in the conduit, emptiness is felt there and the vessel then sinks.
「邪之始入於皮也,「泝」讀 sù然起「毫」讀 háo「毛」讀 máo,開腠理」——**本篇「毫毛」1見,讀 háo máo**;**本目為第五十篇所立(七深之最外者,在毫毛腠理);本篇「泝然起毫毛,開腠理」正是邪初入皮之候,與上句「必先於皮毛」相為表裏**;「泝」讀 sù、**「泝然」之泝讀 sù,底本从水从斥,王冰注「泝然,惡寒也」;「溯」之古字**;「起」讀 qǐ、**「起毫毛」之起讀 qǐ,王冰注「起謂毛起竪也」**
素問·調經論 Suwen 62 · 調經論 Read in context →
歧伯曰:神有餘則笑不休,神不足則悲。血氣未并,五藏安定,邪客於形,洒淅起於毫毛,未入於經絡也,故命曰神之微。 歧伯曰:神有余则笑不休,神不足则悲。血气未并,五藏安定,邪客于形,洒淅起于毫毛,未入于经络也,故命曰神之微。
Qí bó yuē: shén yǒu yú zé xiào bù xiū, shén bù zú zé bēi. Xuè qì wèi bìng, wǔ zàng ān dìng, xié kè yú xíng, xiǎn xī qǐ yú háo máo, wèi rù yú jīng luò yě, gù mìng yuē shén zhī wēi.
Qi Bo says: when the spirit is in excess a man laughs without stopping; when it is insufficient he grieves. But if blood and qi have not yet pooled and the five depots are settled, the evil only lodges in the body: a shivering rises in the fine hair and has not entered the channels and network vessels. This is called a faint disorder of the spirit.
「邪客於形,洒淅起於毫毛,未入於經絡也,故命曰神之微」——**「毫毛」本篇1見,在神之微一證中**:**邪之始客於形也,洒淅起於毫毛而未入於經絡,故命曰神之微**;**毫毛者,皮毛之最細者,邪入之第一層**;**「毫」讀 háo、「毛」讀 máo**
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
是故風者,百病之長也。今風寒客於人,使人毫毛畢直,皮膚閉而爲熱,當是之時,可汗而發也;或痺不仁腫痛,當是之時,可湯熨及火灸剌而去之。 是故风者,百病之长也。今风寒客于人,使人毫毛毕直,皮肤闭而为热,当是之时,可汗而发也;或痹不仁肿痛,当是之时,可汤熨及火灸剌而去之。
Shì gù fēng zhě, bǎi bìng zhī zhǎng yě. Jīn fēng hán kè yú rén, shǐ rén háo máo bì zhí, pí fū bì ér wéi rè, dāng shì zhī shí, kě hàn ér fā yě; huò bì bù rén zhǒng tòng, dāng shì zhī shí, kě tāng yùn jí huǒ jiǔ cì ér qù zhī.
Therefore wind is the chief of the hundred diseases. When wind-cold lodges in a person it makes the fine body hair stand straight and the skin close so that heat develops; at that point it can be sweated out and dispersed. Or there is impediment, numbness, swelling and pain, and at that point it can be removed by hot compresses, fire cautery and needling.
「毫毛畢直」,風寒客於人則使人毫毛畢直、皮膚閉而為熱。毫毛為一身至表,邪之先入者也。

Compounds built on this term

毫毛腠理
háo máo còu lǐ
the down and the interstices
本篇二見
毫毛
háo máo
the down
本篇二見
腠理
còu lǐ
the interstices
本篇二見,見 id 1146
皮毛
pí máo
skin and body hair
與毫毛相次而非一物,見 id 1126

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe downthe ordinary word for the finest body hair, with the graph kept because the chapter names a depth, not a kind of hair
Later medicine毫毛 háo máokept as the outermost of the body's layers, and paired with 腠理 in the standard accounts of how an evil enters
Modern editions毫毛 the fine hair; 汗毛 downthey gloss the word and leave the depth it names to the sentence

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-01

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Reading path

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