Classica Sinica Medica

結陽 简体 结阳

jié yáng

Knotted yang · jie yang

Also rendered: Knotted yang (this site; literal, and it keeps 結 as a knot rather than as stagnation, because the chapter's whole paragraph turns on the graph) · Jie yang (transliteration; how the pair appears wherever the chapter's six knottings are listed out)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-11

At a glance

Pinyin
jié yáng
Simplified
结阳
Literal
結 jié — to knot, to tie, to gather into a lump that will not come undone (《說文》: 結，締也); 陽 yáng — yang. 結陽 is the yang knotted: the qi that should move gathered into a knot on the yang side of the body, and what shows is swelling in the four limbs, where the yang runs.
Shuowen
**「結陽」本篇1見，止在此句**；**「結」讀 jié，本篇9見**；**「陽」讀 yáng，本篇43見**；**《說文》：結，締也；締，結不解也**；**本篇「結」之目凡六：結陽、結陰、二陽結、三陽結、三陰結、一陰一陽結**

In brief

What is knotted on the yang side, and the sign is swelling in the four limbs: 結陽者，腫四支. The chapter’s rule is that a knot in the yang shows where the yang runs — out in the limbs — and a knot in the yin shows where the yin is stored, which is blood, and so 結陰者便血一升. The two sentences stand side by side and make one argument: the same word, 結, and the result depends on which side of the body it happens on. Where the three-yang, two-yang and three-yin knottings later in the chapter give each knot a disease name — 消, 隔, 水 — this pair gives the knot no name at all, only its sign.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 結陽
結者締也、聚而不散；陽分結則腫見於四支
結陽者，腫四支 — Suwen 7
2
What it produces 腫四支
陽行於四末，陽結則水氣聚而腫
結陽者，腫四支 — Suwen 7
3
Against 結陰 結陽／結陰
一在陽分則腫，一在陰分則便血
結陰者便血一升 — Suwen 7
4
The graph for limbs 四支
底本作「支」，支、肢古今字
結陽者，腫四支 — Suwen 7
5
The other knottings 二陽結謂之消
同篇三陽結、三陰結各有病名，此獨不言名
二陽結謂之消 — Suwen 7
6
The reading of 結 結讀 jié
結者聚而不散，非結聚成形之積
結陽者，腫四支 — Suwen 7

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·陰陽别論 Suwen 7 · 陰陽别論 Read in context →
結陽者，腫四支；結陰者便血一升，再結二升，三結三升。 结阳者，肿四支；结阴者便血一升，再结二升，三结三升。
jié yáng zhě, zhǒng sì zhī; jié yīn zhě biàn xuè yī shēng, zài jié èr shēng, sān jié sān shēng.
Where yang is knotted, the four limbs swell. Where yin is knotted, there is blood in the stool, one sheng; knotted again, two sheng; knotted a third time, three sheng.
**「結陽」本篇1見，止在此句**；**「結陰者便血一升」與此同句並舉，一陽一陰，同一「結」字**；**「腫四支」之「四支」底本作「支」，支、肢古今字，本站第八九四條**；**本篇「結」凡六目，見第二十五、二十六段之「二陽結」「三陽結」「三陰結」「一陰一陽結」**；**本站新立此目，與「結陰」同句**

Compounds built on this term

結陰
jié yīn
knotted yin
本篇1見；本站新立目，與此同句
四支
sì zhī
the four limbs
本篇2見；底本作「支」，支、肢古今字，本站第八九四條
二陽結
èr yáng jié
knotting of the second yang
本篇1見；謂之消
三陰結
sān yīn jié
knotting of the three yin
本篇1見；謂之水

How it has been translated

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

This siteknotted yang結 is the same word here as in every other knotting in the chapter, and keeping it identical is what lets the pair with 結陰 do its work
Transliterationjie yanghow the phrase is written in lists of the chapter's knottings; right about the referent, and it hides that the graph is the point
Descriptiveswelling of the limbs from yang stagnationexact, and it explains the sentence instead of leaving the reader the two words the chapter gives

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-11

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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