Classica Sinica Medica

痛痺 简体 痛痹

tòng bì

Painful obstruction

Also rendered: Painful obstruction (this site; pain kept as a plain English word) · Cold obstruction (where the point being made is the agent rather than the symptom)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
tòng bì
Simplified
痛痹
Literal
痛痺 tòng bì — the second of the three, and the one the chapter explains twice. When cold qi prevails the obstruction is named for pain, and later, when the chapter is asked why some obstructions hurt and some do not, the answer is the same: there is much cold qi, and where there is cold there is pain.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：痛，病也，从疒甬聲；痺，濕病也，从疒畀聲。「痛」讀 tòng、**本篇9見**；「寒」讀 hán、**本篇12見**——**寒氣2見、風寒濕4見**。**「寒氣勝者，爲痛痺」與下文「痛者，寒氣多也，有寒故痛也」是本篇自為註腳之處**。

In brief

The obstruction in which cold qi prevails. Cold is what makes pain, and the chapter says so twice: once when it names this kind, and again when it explains that obstruction which has gone deep enough to blunt the construction and defence stops hurting, because the pain was the cold and the cold is no longer the whole of it.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 痛、痺
痛者病也，痺者濕病也；痛痺者，痛有定處
寒氣勝者，爲痛痺 — Suwen 43
2
Why cold hurts 有寒故痛也
寒則收引，收引則不通，不通則痛
痛者，寒氣多也，有寒故痛也 — Suwen 43
3
How the chapter repeats it 寒氣多
命名與釋義用同一語，前後自相發明
痛者，寒氣多也 — Suwen 43
4
What the absence of pain means 病久入深
榮衛之行濇，故反不痛
其不痛不仁者，病久入深 — Suwen 43
5
The pair it makes 或痛，或不痛
本篇兩問疼痛，皆歸於寒之有無
痺或痛，或不痛 — Suwen 43
6
Its place among the three 寒勝則痛
三痺之中，痛痺獨以證名
寒氣勝者，爲痛痺 — Suwen 43

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
Suwen 43 Suwen 43 · 痺論 Read in context →
其風氣勝者，爲行痺，寒氣勝者，爲痛痺，濕氣勝者，爲著痺也。 其风气胜者，为行痹，寒气胜者，为痛痹，湿气胜者，为著痹也。
Qí fēng qì shèng zhě, wéi xíng bì, hán qì shèng zhě, wéi tòng bì, shī qì shèng zhě, wéi zhuó bì yě.
Where wind qi prevails it is travelling obstruction; where cold qi prevails, painful obstruction; where dampness prevails, fixed obstruction — zhuó, settling, the evil lodging in one place.
**「寒氣勝者，爲痛痺」——**「寒」讀 hán、**本篇12見**，**「風寒濕」連言者4見，「寒氣」2見**；**下文「痛者，寒氣多也，有寒故痛也」即此句之註**；**末句「濕氣勝者，爲著痺也」——「著」讀 zhuó，**附著不去，與行痺之走相對**。

Compounds built on this term

痛痺
tòng bì
painful obstruction
本篇三痺之一
寒氣勝
hán qì shèng
cold qi prevailing
痛痺得名之由
有寒故痛
yǒu hán gù tòng
where there is cold, therefore pain
本篇釋痛之語
寒氣多也
hán qì duō yě
the cold qi is abundant
與命名之句互證

How it has been translated

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

This sitepainful obstructionthe chapter names it after the symptom, so the rendering does too
Unschuldpainful blockagethe same construction as his other compounds with 痺
Wisemanpainful impedimentimpediment for 痺, with the qualifier kept literal

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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