Classica Sinica Medica

重身

chóng shēn

Heavy with child · chong shen

Also rendered: Heavy with child (this site; 重 is read chóng, and the rendering keeps the second body in view) · Pregnant (the plain word, where the reading of 重 is not in question)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09-30

At a glance

Pinyin
chóng shēn
Simplified
重身
Literal
重身 chóng shēn — a woman carrying a second body, and the only word in the chapter whose reading is easy to get wrong: 重 is chóng here, not zhòng. The illness the chapter opens with belongs entirely to this condition: in the ninth month the woman loses her voice, and the treatment is to do nothing at all.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：重，厚也，从壬東聲。「重」讀 chóng、**本篇惟此一見**，**讀 chóng，不讀 zhòng**；「身」讀 shēn、**本篇6見**；**重身者，婦人懷孕之身，身中有身，故曰重**。

In brief

A woman great with child, and the reading is chóng shēn. Chapter 47 opens with the ninth month of such a pregnancy, in which the woman loses her voice because the network vessels of the womb are cut off; the chapter’s instruction is to leave her alone, since the tenth month restores her.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 重身
重讀 chóng，重身謂懷孕之身
人有重身 — Suwen 47
2
The reading chóng, not zhòng
身中有身，重疊為義，故讀 chóng
人有重身，九月而瘖 — Suwen 47
3
What happens in the ninth month 九月而瘖
至九月而失音，瘖讀 yīn
九月而瘖 — Suwen 47
4
Why 胞之絡脉絶
胞絡阻絶不通，故不能言
胞之絡脉絶也 — Suwen 47
5
Why it is not treated 無治也
不須治療，治之反成其疹
無治也 — Suwen 47
6
When it ends 當十月復
十月分娩之後，其言自復
當十月復 — Suwen 47

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
Suwen 47 Suwen 47 · 奇病論 Read in context →
黄帝問曰：人有重身，九月而瘖，此爲何也？歧伯對曰：胞之絡脉絶也。 黄帝问曰：人有重身，九月而瘖，此为何也？歧伯对曰：胞之络脉绝也。
Huáng dì wèn yuē: rén yǒu chóng shēn, jiǔ yuè ér yīn, cǐ wéi hé yě? Qí bó duì yuē: bāo zhī luò mài jué yě.
The Emperor asks: a woman is heavy with child and, in the ninth month, loses her voice. What is this? Qi Bo answers: the network vessels of the womb are cut off.
**「人有重身，九月而瘖」——**「重」讀 chóng、**本篇惟此一見**，**讀 chóng**；「瘖」讀 yīn、**本篇惟此一見**，**底本从疒，不作从口之「喑」**；**「胞之絡脉絶也」一句，為失音之故**。
Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：不遠熱則熱至，不遠寒則寒至，寒至則堅否腹滿，痛急下利之病生矣。熱至則身熱，吐下霍亂，癰疽瘡瘍，瞀鬱注下，瞤瘛腫脹，嘔鼽衄頭痛，骨節變，肉痛，血溢，血泄，淋閟之病生矣。帝曰：治之柰何？歧伯曰：時必順之，犯者治以勝也。黄帝問曰：婦人重身，毒之何如？歧伯曰：有故無殞，亦無殞也。帝曰：願聞其故，何謂也？ 歧伯曰：不远热则热至，不远寒则寒至，寒至则坚否腹满，痛急下利之病生矣。热至则身热，吐下霍乱，痈疽疮疡，瞀郁注下，瞤瘛肿胀，呕鼽衄头痛，骨节变，肉痛，血溢，血泄，淋閟之病生矣。帝曰：治之奈何？歧伯曰：时必顺之，犯者治以胜也。黄帝问曰：妇人重身，毒之何如？歧伯曰：有故无殒，亦无殒也。帝曰：愿闻其故，何谓也？
Qí bó yuē: bù yuǎn rè zé rè zhì, bù yuǎn hán zé hán zhì, hán zhì zé jiān pǐ fù mǎn, tòng jí xià lì zhī bìng shēng yǐ. Rè zhì zé shēn rè, tù xià huò luàn, yōng jū chuāng yáng, mào yù zhù xià, shùn chì zhǒng zhàng, ǒu qiú nǜ tóu tòng, gǔ jié biàn, ròu tòng, xuè yì, xuè xiè, lín bì zhī bìng shēng yǐ. Dì yuē: zhì zhī nài hé? Qí bó yuē: shí bì shùn zhī, fàn zhě zhì yǐ shèng yě. Huáng dì wèn yuē: fù rén chóng shēn, dú zhī hé rú? Qí bó yuē: yǒu gù wú yǔn, yì wú yǔn yě. Dì yuē: yuàn wén qí gù, hé wèi yě?
Qi Bo said: if one does not keep far from heat, heat arrives; if one does not keep far from cold, cold arrives. When cold arrives, illnesses of hard blockage, fullness of belly, urgent pain and flux arise. When heat arrives, there is fever, vomiting and purging with cholera, abscesses and sores, dim pent flux below, twitching and convulsion with swelling and distension, vomiting, snivelling, nosebleed and headache, altered joints, painful flesh, blood spilling, blood pouring, and strangury and stoppage. Huang Di said: how is one to treat them? Qi Bo said: the season must be followed; what has been offended is treated with what prevails over it. Huang Di asked: when a woman is with child, what of using poisons? Qi Bo said: where there is cause there is no destruction, nor will she be destroyed. Huang Di said: I wish to hear the cause — what is meant?
**「重身」本篇1見，止在此句**；**此段「婦人重身，毒之何如」，與下文「有故無殞，亦無殞也」相承**

Compounds built on this term

重身
chóng shēn
heavy with child
本篇之首問
九月而瘖
jiǔ yuè ér yīn
losing the voice in the ninth month
重身之證
胞之絡脉
bāo zhī luò mài
the network vessels of the womb
失音之故（胞絡另立專目）
當十月復
dāng shí yuè fù
in the tenth month it returns
不治之治

How it has been translated

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

This siteheavy with child重 is read chóng, so the phrase says what the body carries rather than how much it weighs
Unschuldbeing pregnanthe renders the condition, not the graphs
Wisemanheavy bodyhis system keeps 重 as heavy and reads the phrase as the pregnant body

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09-30

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Reading path

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