鬱發简体郁发

yù fā

Pent-up and breaking out · yu fa

Also rendered: Pent-up and breaking out (this site; 鬱 as what is held in and 發 as its release) · Depression and eruption (clinical and modern; the chapter's 鬱 is a season's qi, not a mood)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-14

At a glance

Pinyin: yù fā
Simplified: 郁发
Literal: 鬱 yù — pent up, held in, the anger of a thing that cannot come out (《說文》: 鬱，木叢生者), used of qi that has been held back until it is ready to break; 發 fā — to issue, to break out. The pair is the chapter's name for the second half of what a year can do: not the orderly working of a season but the violent release of what has been held too long.
Shuowen: **《說文》：鬱，木叢生者；發，射發也**。**「鬱發」連文本篇2見：一在少陰司天終之氣「折其鬱發」，一在篇末治則「火鬱發之」**；**「鬱」本篇30見，「發」本篇41見**；**五鬱之發五段，即此二字之疏解，其發各有先兆、時候與所病**

In brief

The moment a pent-up qi lets go. The chapter treats it twice: once in the 治則 for 少陰司天, where the prescription is 折其鬱發，先取化源，無使暴過而生其病也; and once at the very end, in the five treatments, where 火鬱發之 is itself the cure for pent-up fire. Between the two sits the longest passage of the chapter, five paragraphs on 土鬱之發、金鬱之發、水鬱之發、木鬱之發、火鬱之發, each naming its sign in weather and in men and closing with its season and its number — 怫乃發也，其氣四. The chapter’s whole account of disaster is the working out of these two graphs.

Senses in the classical corpus

The two graphs 鬱發

鬱者積而不通，發者積極而洩

折其鬱發 — Suwen 71

In the 治則折其鬱發，先取化源

抑其將發之氣，無使暴過

折其鬱發 — Suwen 71

As a cure 火鬱發之

火鬱者發之而後快

火鬱發之 — Suwen 71

Its season 其氣四、其氣五

五鬱之發各有其時候

其氣四 — Suwen 71

Its sign 怫之先兆

將發之先，必有其兆

怫之先兆 — Suwen 71

What it does 巖谷震驚，雷殷氣交

五鬱之發，各有其聲色

土鬱之發 — Suwen 71

Occurrences in the classics

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

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1 passages

Suwen 71 Suwen 71 · 六元正紀大論 Read in context →

終之氣，燥令行，餘火内格，腫於上，欬喘，甚則血溢，寒氣數舉，則霿霧翳，病生皮腠，内舍於脅，下連少腹，而作寒中，地將易也。必抑其運氣，資其歲勝，折其鬱發，先取化源，無使暴過而生其病也。终之气，燥令行，余火内格，肿于上，咳喘，甚则血溢，寒气数举，则霿雾翳，病生皮腠，内舍于胁，下连少腹，而作寒中，地将易也。必抑其运气，资其岁胜，折其郁发，先取化源，无使暴过而生其病也。

Zhōng zhī qì, zào lìng xíng, yú huǒ nèi gé, zhǒng yú shàng, kài chuǎn, shèn zé xuè yì, hán qì shuò jǔ, zé méng wù yì, bìng shēng pí còu, nèi shè yú xié, xià lián shào fù, ér zuò hán zhōng, dì jiāng yì yě. Bì yì qí yùn qì, zī qí suì shèng, zhé qí yù fā, xiān qǔ huà yuán, wú shǐ bào guò ér shēng qí bìng yě.

The final qi: the command of dryness moves; the remaining fire is shut off within; there is swelling above, coughing and panting, and in severe cases blood spilling. When cold qi rises again and again there is murky fog and a blurring veil; illness arises in the skin and interstices, lodges within at the ribs and reaches down to the lower belly, making cold in the centre — the earth is about to change. One must check their circuit qi, aid what prevails over the year, break their pent outbreak and first take the source of transformation, so that no violent excess arises and brings illness.

**「鬱發」本篇2見，此段有其1**；**此段為少陰司天終之氣，末句「折其鬱發，先取化源」為治則**；**另一見在篇末五鬱之治「火鬱發之」**

Compounds built on this term

鬱極乃發

yù jí nǎi fā

when the pent-up reaches its limit, it lets go

本篇一見；五鬱之發之總綱

折其鬱氣

zhé qí yù qì

to break the pent-up qi

本篇5見

怫

fú

seething, about to break

本篇9見；皆在將發之際

五鬱

wǔ yù

the five pent-up qi

本篇五見，作「木鬱」「水鬱」之屬

How it has been translated

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

This site	pent-up and breaking out	a pair of verbs for a pair the chapter uses both as diagnosis and as cure
Literal	pent-up issuing	exact; 'breaking out' is what the chapter's five paragraphs describe
Gloss	qi held back until it breaks out of season	right, and too long to stand as a headword

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-14

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