Classica Sinica Medica

不月

bù yuè

No monthly flow · bu yue

Also rendered: No monthly flow (this site; literal, and it keeps 月 as the monthly thing rather than as a month of time) · Bu yue (transliteration; how the phrase appears where this sentence is cited)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-11

At a glance

Pinyin
bù yuè
Simplified
不月
Literal
不 bù — not; 月 yuè — the moon, then the month it measures, and then the monthly matter of a woman (《說文》: 月，闕也；太陰之精). 不月 is not a month without something: it is the menses failing to come, the monthly thing that is not there. The chapter's word is as short as its sentence, and it uses 月 for the matter rather than for the time.
Shuowen
**「不月」本篇1見，止在此句**；**「月」讀 yuè，本篇3見：第二段「十二月」二見指月份，此句指月事**；**「不」讀 bù，本篇11見**；**《說文》：月，闕也；太陰之精**；**同篇「月」二義並見：第二段之月是月份，此句之月是月事，各从其處**

In brief

The chapter’s word for a woman’s menses stopping, and it comes in the same sentence as 隱曲: 二陽之病發心脾，有不得隱曲，女子不月. The disease begins in the heart and the spleen; the heart governs the blood and the spleen holds it, and the monthly flow fails. What gives the word its weight is where it stands. The same sentence sends the disease on into 風消 and then into 息賁, 死不治 — so in this chapter the failure of the menses is not a small complaint attached to a large one, but the first sign of a disease that goes on to dry the flesh out and then to kill. The chapter gives no treatment; it gives the sequence.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 不月
月指月事，不月即月事不行
女子不月 — Suwen 7
2
What produces it 二陽之病發心脾
心主血、脾統血，二藏病則月事不行
二陽之病發心脾 — Suwen 7
3
Its companion 有不得隱曲
月事與隱曲並受其病，見本站「隱曲」條
有不得隱曲 — Suwen 7
4
Who it names 女子不月
此句專言女子，與隱曲之通言者別
女子不月 — Suwen 7
5
What follows 其傳爲風消
血枯月閉久則形肉日消
其傳爲風消 — Suwen 7
6
What it does not say 其傳爲風消，其傳爲息賁者，死不治
本篇不言治法，但敘傳變
其傳爲息賁者，死不治 — 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 →
曰：二陽之病發心脾，有不得隱曲，女子不月。其傳爲風消，其傳爲息賁者，死不治。 曰：二阳之病发心脾，有不得隐曲，女子不月。其传为风消，其传为息贲者，死不治。
yuē: èr yáng zhī bìng fā xīn pí, yǒu bù dé yǐn qū, nǚ zǐ bù yuè. qí chuán wéi fēng xiāo, qí chuán wéi xī bēn zhě, sǐ bù zhì.
It is said: in disease of the second yang, the illness arises in the heart and spleen; there is something that cannot be spoken of, and in women the menses stop. If it transmits into wind-wasting, and then transmits into rushing breath, death follows and there is no cure.
**「不月」本篇1見，止此一句**；**「女子不月」與「有不得隱曲」連文，是二陽之病之第二事**；**「月」本篇3見，此句「不月」指月事，第二段「十二月」二見指月份**；**「二陽之病發心脾」一句凡二事二傳：不得隱曲、女子不月為二事，風消、息賁為二傳，本站「隱曲」「風消」新立目皆出此句**；**本站新立此目**

Compounds built on this term

月事
yuè shì
the monthly matter
本篇0見，是「不月」之通行釋語，底本單作「月」
隱曲
yǐn qū
the hidden and the bent
本篇2見；與「女子不月」連文
心脾
xīn pí
the heart and the spleen
本篇1見；二陽之病發心脾
血枯
xuè kū
blood withered
本篇0見，後世之名，與本篇「風消」相類

How it has been translated

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

This siteno monthly flow不月 is the flow failing to come; ‘amenorrhoea’ would move the reader into a clinic the chapter is not in
Transliterationbu yuehow the phrase is written in discussions of this sentence; right about the referent, and it does not say which month
Descriptivecessation of the mensesexact, and it is a description rather than the chapter's name for the thing

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-11

Search the glossary

Reading path

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

See all reading paths