Classica Sinica Medica

炅

jiǒng

Blazing heat · jiong

Also rendered: Blazing heat (this site; the graph carries fire and sun, and the transliteration is kept beside it) · Heat (plainer, but loses the reason the chapter chose this graph over 熱)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
jiǒng
Simplified
炅
Literal
炅 jiǒng — heat, blazing. Sun over fire, and a graph the rest of the Suwen rarely uses; chapter 39 uses it 5 times and keeps it distinct from 熱, which it also has. The difference is not one of degree but of role. 熱 is what the chapter reports — heat arriving, heat staying, heat in the middle. 炅 is what the chapter prescribes: 得炅則痛立止, get heat and the pain stops on the spot, because the pain was cold and cold is what heat undoes. The word is then drafted into the nine qi at the end of the chapter, where 炅則氣泄, heat lets the qi out, is set against 寒則氣收, cold draws it in. Read jiǒng, not rè: the pronunciation is part of why the graph survived as a separate word.
Shuowen
《說文解字》未收「炅」字——**其字後起，从火从日**。**醫書相承訓為熱，王冰注《素問》即云「炅，熱也」**。「炅」讀 jiǒng，**讀 jiǒng，本篇5見**——**全篇「熱」（「熱」讀 rè）6見，二字並用而職分不同**：**「熱」為病家所見之熱（熱氣至、熱氣留於小腸、熱氣在中）**，**「炅」為治病之熱、亦九氣之一（得炅則痛立止、炅則氣泄）**。**「得炅則痛立止」五字，是全篇惟一之效驗語**——**諸痛皆言其所以痛，惟此一言其所以止**。

In brief

Heat under a graph the rest of the Suwen hardly uses: sun over fire, read jiǒng. In chapter 39 it is the one thing that ends a pain, and also one of the nine qi that disorders it.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
What the graph says 炅
从火从日，讀 jiǒng；醫書訓為熱
得炅則痛立止 — Suwen 39
2
The cure in one line 得炅則痛立止
寒為之痛，得熱則寒散而痛止
得炅則痛立止 — Suwen 39
3
Heat above, cold below 炅氣從上
寒氣稽留於下，炅氣從上，則脉充大而血氣亂
炅氣從上 — Suwen 39
4
Contending with cold 與炅氣相薄
寒炅相薄則脉滿，滿則不可按
與炅氣相薄 — Suwen 39
5
One of the nine 炅則氣泄
九氣之一：炅則腠理開、榮衛通、汗大泄
炅則腠理開 — Suwen 39
6
Not the same as 熱 熱
熱言其見，炅言其用；本篇二字並見而不互代
熱氣留於小腸 — Suwen 39

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
Suwen 39 Suwen 39 · 舉痛論 Read in context →
得炅則痛立止。因重中於寒，則痛久矣。 得炅则痛立止。因重中于寒，则痛久矣。
Dé jiǒng zé tòng lì zhǐ. Yīn chóng zhòng yú hán, zé tòng jiǔ yǐ.
Meeting warmth the pain stops at once; but struck again by cold, the pain lasts long.
**「得炅則痛立止。因重中於寒，則痛久矣」十三字，是全篇痛證之樞紐**：**寒客則痛作，得炅則痛止，重中於寒則痛久**——**一作一止一久，全篇之進退盡於此**。**「炅」（「炅」讀 jiǒng）讀 jiǒng**，**本篇5見，不作「熱」（「熱」）**；**「重」（「重」讀 chóng）讀 chóng，再也**，**「中」（「中」）於此讀 zhòng，被傷也**——**本篇「中」字二讀**：「熱氣在中」讀 zhōng，「重中於寒」讀 zhòng。
素問·長刺節論 Suwen 55 · 長刺節論 Read in context →
病在少腹，腹痛不得大小便，病名曰疝，得之寒，刺少腹兩股間，刺腰髁骨間，刺而多之，盡炅，病已。 病在少腹，腹痛不得大小便，病名曰疝，得之寒，刺少腹两股间，刺腰髁骨间，刺而多之，尽炅，病已。
Bìng zài shào fù, fù tòng bù dé dà xiǎo biàn, bìng míng yuē shàn, dé zhī hán, cì shào fù liǎng gǔ jiān, cì yāo kē gǔ jiān, cì ér duō zhī, jìn jiǒng, bìng yǐ.
Where the trouble is in the lesser abdomen, with pain there and no passage either way, the illness is called shàn, and it is got from cold. Needle between the lesser abdomen and the two thighs, and between the bones of the lumbar condyles; needle repeatedly, and once everything is blazing hot the illness is over.
「刺腰髁骨間，刺而多之，盡「炅」讀 jiǒng，病已」——**本篇「炅」3見，讀 jiǒng，熱也**；**三見：盡炅（疝證）、病起筋炅（筋痺）、炅汗出（風病）**；**本篇「炅」與「熱」11見並存：炅為針下之熱感，熱為氣分之熱（氣熱下已、以熱為故、諸分盡熱、骨熱）**；「盡」讀 jìn、**「盡炅」之盡讀 jìn，本篇4見**
素問·調經論 Suwen 62 · 調經論 Read in context →
血并於陰，氣并於陽，故爲驚狂；血并於陽，氣并於陰，乃爲炅中；血并於上，氣并於下，心煩惋善怒；血并於下，氣并於上，亂而喜忘。 血并于阴，气并于阳，故为惊狂；血并于阳，气并于阴，乃为炅中；血并于上，气并于下，心烦惋善怒；血并于下，气并于上，乱而喜忘。
Xuè bìng yú yīn, qì bìng yú yáng, gù wéi jīng kuáng; xuè bìng yú yáng, qì bìng yú yīn, nǎi wéi jiǒng zhōng; xuè bìng yú shàng, qì bìng yú xià, xīn fán wǎn shàn nù; xuè bìng yú xià, qì bìng yú shàng, luàn ér xǐ wàng.
Blood pooling in yin and qi in yang makes fright and madness; blood pooling in yang and qi in yin makes heat in the interior; blood pooling above and qi below makes the heart fret and a man quick to anger; blood pooling below and qi above makes confusion and forgetfulness.
「血并於陽，氣并於陰，乃爲炅中」——**「炅」本篇1見，讀 jiǒng**：**炅者，熱也；血并於陽、氣并於陰，則熱在於中，故為炅中**；**「炅中」與上文「驚狂」、下文「心煩惋善怒」「亂而喜忘」相次，皆血氣相并之證**；**「中」讀 zhōng**

Compounds built on this term

得炅
dé jiǒng
to get heat
本篇惟一之效驗語，痛立止
炅氣
jiǒng qì
heat qi
與寒氣相對，凡二見
炅氣從上
jiǒng qì cóng shàng
heat qi coming from above
寒氣稽留於下之對
炅則氣泄
jiǒng zé qì xiè
heat lets the qi out
九氣之一，與寒則氣收相對

How it has been translated

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

This siteblazing heatthe word is translated and the reading jiong shown at the headword, because 炅 is not a graph a reader will recognise
Unschuldheatrenders 炅 as 'heat' and notes in the apparatus that the graph is a rarer writing
Wisemanheatthe same; Wiseman observes that 炅 and 熱 are interchangeable in some manuscripts but not in this chapter

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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