Classica Sinica Medica

持脉

chí mài

Holding the pulse · chi mai

Also rendered: holding the pulse (Literal for 持) · taking the pulse (The common clinical phrase in English) · feeling the pulse (Loosest, and loses 持's sense of keeping hold)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
chí mài
Simplified
持脉
Literal
持 to hold in the hand, to keep hold of (《說文》: 握也); 脉 the vessels — written 脉 in the base text, a popular form of 脈 (《說文》: 血理分袤行體者). Holding the vessels: the physical act, and the discipline behind it.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：持，握也（段注：引申為持守、持之以恆）；脈，血理分袤行體者（段注：脉為脈之俗）。

In brief

Chapter 17’s word for what the physician does with his hand, and it is a heavier word than feel. The chapter gives it a precondition — 虚靜爲保, emptiness and stillness are its safeguard — a body of seasonal pictures for it (spring like a fish in the ripples, winter like the gentleman who stays inside), and then two rules: to know what is within, press and take its rule; to know what is without, follow it from end to beginning. These are called 持脉之大法, the great standards of holding the pulse.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Holding the pulse, with a precondition 是故持脉有道，虚靜爲保
醫者心虛神靜而後得脈之真
是故持脉有道，虚靜爲保 — Suwen 17
2
Its seasonal pictures 春日浮，如魚之遊在波……冬日在骨
四時各有其象
春日浮，如魚之遊在波；夏日在膚，泛泛乎萬物有餘 — Suwen 17
3
Knowing within and without 知内者按而紀之，知外者終而始之
內者按而求紀，外者循其終始
知内者按而紀之，知外者終而始之 — Suwen 17
4
The standards 此六者，持脉之大法
持脈之法度
此六者，持脉之大法 — Suwen 17

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·脉要精微論 Suwen 17 · 脉要精微論 Read in context →
是故持脉有道，虚靜爲保。春日浮，如魚之遊在波；夏日在膚，泛泛乎萬物有餘；秋日下膚，蟄蟲將去；冬日在骨，蟄蟲周密，君子居室。故曰：知内者按而紀之，知外者終而始之。此六者，持脉之大法。 是故持脉有道，虚静为保。春日浮，如鱼之游在波；夏日在肤，泛泛乎万物有余；秋日下肤，蛰虫将去；冬日在骨，蛰虫周密，君子居室。故曰：知内者按而纪之，知外者终而始之。此六者，持脉之大法。
shì gù chí mài yǒu dào, xū jìng wéi bǎo. chūn rì fú, rú yú zhī yóu zài bō; xià rì zài fū, fàn fàn hū wàn wù yǒu yú; qiū rì xià fū, zhé chóng jiāng qù; dōng rì zài gǔ, zhé chóng zhōu mì, jūn zǐ jū shì. gù yuē: zhī nèi zhě àn ér jì zhī, zhī wài zhě zhōng ér shǐ zhī. cǐ liù zhě, chí mài zhī dà fǎ.
Therefore there is a way of holding the pulse, and emptiness and stillness are its safeguard. In spring it floats, like a fish swimming in the ripples. In summer it is at the skin, buoyant, as though the myriad things had more than enough. In autumn it descends below the skin, as hibernating insects are about to depart. In winter it is at the bone, as hibernating insects close themselves in, and as the gentleman stays within his chamber. Hence it is said: to know what is within, press and take its rule; to know what is without, follow it from end to beginning. These six are the great methods of holding the pulse.
本篇論持脈最為切要：先以「虚靜爲保」立其本，次以春浮如魚遊在波、夏在膚泛泛、秋下膚、冬在骨如蟄蟲周密為四時之象，末以「知内者按而紀之，知外者終而始之」二語括之，而名之曰「持脉之大法」。

Compounds built on this term

持
chí
to hold, to keep hold of
說文：握也
脉
mài
the vessels
說文作脈：血理分袤行體者
虚靜
xū jìng
emptiness and stillness
持脈之保
按而紀之
àn ér jì zhī
press and take its rule
知內之法
終而始之
zhōng ér shǐ zhī
follow from end to beginning
知外之法

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishtaking the pulse, or feeling the pulseTaking is the ordinary clinical idiom and reads naturally.
This siteholding the pulse持 is 握, to hold in the hand — an act that continues, and the chapter is explicit that what is required is a sustained attention (虚靜) rather than a moment's touch. Taking suggests acquiring a reading and moving on; holding keeps the hand there, which is what the four seasonal pictures and the injunction to press outward, inward, upward and downward actually describe.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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