辰星

chén xīng

Mercury · chen xing

Also rendered: The star of the hour (this site; literal, and it keeps 辰 as a time rather than only as a branch) · Chen xing (transliteration; how the name appears in writing on the 運氣 method, where the planet is named and not explained)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin: chén xīng
Simplified: 辰星
Literal: 辰 chén — the time, the season, and the fifth of the twelve branches (《說文》: 辰，震也；三月陽气動，雷電振，民農時也); 星 xīng — a star. 辰星 is the star of the hour: Mercury, which never travels far from the sun and is seen only at its times, at dusk or at dawn, and was therefore the planet used to mark them. It is the star of water and of the north. In this chapter it answers to water in surplus (歲水太過…上應辰星), to fire falling short (歲火不及…上應辰星), and to the cold that rises against fire when fire is short.
Shuowen: **「辰」讀 chén，本篇8見**；**「星」讀 xīng，本篇36見**；**《說文》：辰，震也；三月陽气動，雷電振，民農時也**；**「辰星」本篇8見**；**「辰」字本篇皆在「辰星」一詞內，不見於他處**

In brief

The planet Mercury, the star of water and of the north, and the one whose name is a time of day. It keeps close to the sun and shows itself only at its hours, and so it became the marker of them. Water in surplus answers to it (歲水太過…上應辰星), fire falling short answers to it (歲火不及…上應辰星), and it comes back a third time for the cold that strikes back at metal (復則寒雨暴至…上應辰星). The chapter pairs it with 熒惑 more often than with any other star, because water and fire are the two that answer each other.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 辰星

辰者時也，星者列星；以時而見，故名

上應辰星 — Suwen 69

The planet 辰星

水之精，附日而行，即今之水星

歲水太過，寒氣流行 — Suwen 69

Water in surplus 歲水太過，寒氣流行，邪害心火

水運太過，則辰星應之

上應辰星 — Suwen 69

Fire falling short 歲火不及，寒乃大行

火不及則水來乘之，辰星見焉

上應辰星 — Suwen 69

Revenge 復則寒雨暴至，乃零冰雹

復氣之發，辰星與熒惑並見

上應辰星 — Suwen 69

Paired with fire 上應熒惑、辰星

水火相答，故二星常並舉

上應熒惑、辰星 — Suwen 69

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 69 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →

歲水太過，寒氣流行，邪害心火。民病身熱煩心，躁悸，陰厥，上下中寒，譫妄心痛。寒氣早至。上應辰星。甚則腹大脛腫，喘欬，寖汗出，憎風。大雨至，埃霧朦鬱，上應鎮星。上臨太陽，雨冰雪，霜不時降，濕氣變物。病反腹滿腸鳴，溏泄食不化，渴而妄冒。神門絶者，死不治，上應熒惑、辰星。岁水太过，寒气流行，邪害心火。民病身热烦心，躁悸，阴厥，上下中寒，谵妄心痛。寒气早至。上应辰星。甚则腹大胫肿，喘欬，寖汗出，憎风。大雨至，埃雾朦郁，上应镇星。上临太阳，雨冰雪，霜不时降，湿气变物。病反腹满肠鸣，溏泄食不化，渴而妄冒。神门绝者，死不治，上应荧惑、辰星。

Suì shuǐ tài guò, hán qì liú xíng, xié hài xīn huǒ. Mín bìng shēn rè fán xīn, zào jì, yīn jué, shàng xià zhòng hán, zhān wàng xīn tòng. Hán qì zǎo zhì. Shàng yìng chén xīng. Shèn zé fù dà jìng zhǒng, chuǎn kài, qǐn hàn chū, zēng fēng. Dà yǔ zhì, āi wù méng yù, shàng yìng zhèn xīng. Shàng lín tài yáng, yǔ bīng xuě, shuāng bù shí jiàng, shī qì biàn wù. Bìng fǎn fù mǎn cháng míng, táng xiè shí bù huà, kě ér wàng mào. Shén mén jué zhě, sǐ bù zhì, shàng yìng yíng huò, chén xīng.

In a year of water in surplus, the qi of cold spreads and moves and the evil harms the fire of the heart. The people are ill with heat of the body and fretting of the heart, restlessness and palpitations, yin counterflow, cold struck through the upper and the lower, delirious speech and pain in the heart; the cold qi arrives early. It answers above to Mercury. If it is severe the abdomen is enlarged and the shins swell, there is panting and coughing, sweating in sleep and hatred of wind. Great rain comes, dust and mist are dim and pent; it answers above to Saturn. If greater yang presides above, there is rain, ice and snow, frost falls out of season, and the qi of dampness alters things. The illness turns to fullness of the abdomen and rumbling in the bowels, sloppy diarrhoea with food undigested, and thirst with a veiled and wandering mind. Where Shenmen is cut off there is death and no cure; it answers above to Mars and Mercury.

**「辰星」本篇8見，此段有其2**；**「歲水太過」是五運太過之第五表，十表之末**；**「神門絶者，死不治」是本篇五脈之第五脈，心受邪故取心脈**；**「寖汗出」之「寖」讀 qǐn，本篇1見，義為寢汗，即盜汗**；**「上下中寒」之「中」讀 zhòng，本篇「中」11見而二讀**

素問·金匱真言論 Suwen 4 · 金匱真言論 Read in context →

北方黑色，入通於腎，開竅於二陰，藏精於腎，故病在谿。其味鹹，其類水，其畜彘，其榖豆。其應四時，上爲辰星，是以知病之在骨也。其音羽，其數六，其臭腐。北方黑色，入通于肾，开窍于二阴，藏精于肾，故病在溪。其味咸，其类水，其畜彘，其谷豆。其应四时，上为辰星，是以知病之在骨也。其音羽，其数六，其臭腐。

běi fāng hēi sè, rù tōng yú shèn, kāi qiào yú èr yīn, cáng jīng yú shèn, gù bìng zài xī. qí wèi xián, qí lèi shuǐ, qí chù zhì, qí gǔ dòu. qí yìng sì shí, shàng wéi chén xīng, shì yǐ zhī bìng zhī zài gǔ yě. qí yīn yǔ, qí shù liù, qí xiù fǔ.

The north is the black colour; it enters and communicates with the kidney. It opens into the two lower orifices and stores its essence in the kidney; hence the disease is in the ravines. Its flavour is salty, its class water, its domestic animal the pig, its grain beans. Answering to the four seasons, above it is the Season Star; hence one knows the disease is in the bones. Its note is yu, its number six. Its odour is putrid.

「上爲辰星」——北方黑色，通於腎，其類水；辰星為水星，北方之星；**「辰星」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

歲水

suì shuǐ

the year of water

本篇2見；歲水太過、歲水不及

寒氣

hán qì

cold qi

本篇2見；寒氣流行、寒氣早至

上應

shàng yìng

answering above

本篇34見；本篇十表之收束語

五星

wǔ xīng

the five planets

本篇1見；歲候不及其太過而上應五星

How it has been translated

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

This site	Mercury	literal from the planet named; the chapter needs a star that answers to water, and 辰星 is that star
Transliteration	chen xing	how the name is written in discussions of the five circuits; right about the referent, and it loses the hour
Descriptive	the planet of water	exact, and it gives the phase rather than the body; the chapter's own name says when the planet is seen, not what it is made of

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

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