過用简体过用

guò yòng

Overuse · guo yong

Also rendered: overuse (Plain English, and keeps 用 as spending rather than straining) · excessive use (Grammatically the same, rhetorically heavier) · overexertion (Correct for the labour half of the list, not for the eating) · guo yong (Bare transliteration)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: guò yòng
Simplified: 过用
Literal: 過 is to pass beyond (《說文》: 度也 — to cross a measure). 用 is what can be put into effect (《說文》: 可施行也). Together, spending past the measure — and each of the two words is the plainest word for itself in the language.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：過，度也。从辵咼聲（段玉裁注：引申為有過之過）；用，可施行也。从卜从中（段玉裁注：可施行而行，謂之用）。

In brief

The chapter’s whole aetiology in five characters: in every season, illness arises from use beyond measure. The weight of the word rests on what the list before it has established — food to repletion, carrying weight a long way, running in fear, labour until the body sways — for those are all uses, and every one of them emptied a different viscus of its sweat. So the maxim is not about one excess but about a budget that can be spent from several accounts. It answers chapter one’s advice on the other side of the ledger: there, rise and rest with regularity and do not labour recklessly; here, what happens when one does.

Senses in the classical corpus

The maxim itself 生病起於過用，此爲常也

四時之病皆起於用之過其常度

故春秋冬夏，四時陰陽，生病起於過用，此爲常也 — Suwen 21

Use of food 飲食飽甚

食至飽甚，亦過用之一

故飲食飽甚，汗出於胃 — Suwen 21

Use of strength 持重遠行

承重而遠行，勞其筋骨

持重遠行，汗出於腎 — Suwen 21

Use of feeling 疾走恐懼

恐懼馳走，其用心與力皆過

疾走恐懼，汗出於肝 — Suwen 21

The advice it answers 不妄作勞

第一篇以起居有常、不妄作勞為養

起居有常，不妄作勞 — Suwen 1

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

2 passages

素問·經脉别論 Suwen 21 · 經脉别論 Read in context →

故春秋冬夏，四時陰陽，生病起於過用，此爲常也。故春秋冬夏，四时阴阳，生病起于过用，此为常也。

Gù chūn qiū dōng xià, sì shí yīn yáng, shēng bìng qǐ yú guò yòng, cǐ wéi cháng yě.

Thus in spring, autumn, winter and summer, with the yin and yang of the four seasons, the arising of illness comes from use beyond measure; this is the constant rule.

本篇病因之總斷。上文先列五汗——飽甚則汗出於胃，奪精則汗出於心，持重遠行則汗出於腎，疾走恐懼則汗出於肝，摇體勞苦則汗出於脾——五者飲食也、負重也、馳走也、恐懼也、勞苦也，其事不同而同謂之「用」，故一言以蔽之曰「過用」。過者，度也（《說文》：過，度也）；用者，可施行也。「此為常也」者，言四時陰陽之病無不由是而生，非一時之變。與第一篇「食飲有節，起居有常，不妄作勞」互為表裡：彼言所以養，此言所以病。

素問·宣明五氣 Suwen 23 · 宣明五氣 Read in context →

五勞所傷：久視傷血，久卧傷氣，久坐傷肉，久立傷骨，久行傷筋。是謂五勞所傷。五劳所伤：久视伤血，久卧伤气，久坐伤肉，久立伤骨，久行伤筋。是谓五劳所伤。

Wǔ láo suǒ shāng: jiǔ shì shāng xuè, jiǔ wò shāng qì, jiǔ zuò shāng ròu, jiǔ lì shāng gǔ, jiǔ xíng shāng jīn. shì wèi wǔ láo suǒ shāng.

What the five strains injure: long looking injures the blood, long lying injures the qi, long sitting injures the flesh, long standing injures the bone, long walking injures the sinews. This is what the five strains injure.

「五勞所傷：久視傷血，久卧傷氣，久坐傷肉，久立傷骨，久行傷筋」：本篇過用之義，即第二十一篇「生病起於過用」之分疏：彼揭其綱，此列其目，而各指其所傷之形。五者之中，無一言之暴者——所傷不在用力之猛，而在習之之久。與第二十一篇「過用」條同條而義別：第二十一篇以一語總括四時陰陽之所以致病，本篇則析為五事，而其所傷者正即上文「五藏所主」之五形（血氣肉骨筋）——先言所主，後言所傷，二條相為首尾。

Compounds built on this term

過

guò

beyond the measure

說文：度也

用

yòng

to employ, to spend

說文：可施行也

過用

guò yòng

overuse

本篇：生病起於過用

常用

cháng yòng

ordinary use

本篇下文：揆度以爲常也

起居有常

qǐ jū yǒu cháng

rising and resting with regularity

第一篇

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	overexertion	Their 過 together with labours usually comes out as overexertion or taxation.
Unschuld	excessive use	He keeps 用 broad enough for eating, carrying and fearing alike.
This site	overuse	The move worth preserving is that the same verb covers food, loads, running, fright and labour: what these deplete is one budget drawn on from different organs, which is why the preceding line can list five different sweats. Overexertion narrows it to muscle before the sweat does; excessive use is correct but says excess twice, since use past its measure is already the meaning of 過.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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