氣厥简体气厥

qì jué

Qi counterflow · qi jue

Also rendered: Qi counterflow (this site; keeps qi untranslated and lowercase, per the site's standing practice) · Reversal of qi (the common alternative; adds a sense of turning round that 厥 does not require)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: qì jué
Simplified: 气厥
Literal: 氣厥 qì jué — qi, and counterflow. 厥 is the word the Suwen uses whenever something travels the wrong way along a path that is supposed to run one direction: cold in the hands and feet, qi that rises when it should sink, a faint that comes from qi reversing course. Chapter 37 takes the word and stretches it: here what reverses course is not qi in a limb but an illness itself, moving from the viscus that bred it into another viscus that never asked for it. The chapter's last line draws the moral — however far the illness has travelled, 故得之氣厥也, it was all got from counterflow of qi. The term is thus both the title and the verdict.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：厥，發石也——**本義為發石，引申為氣逆而上**；**《素問》「厥」字凡三義**：**一為氣逆（本篇之義），二為手足寒（厥冷），三為昏仆（昏厥）**。**本篇之「厥」專取氣逆一義**——**寒熱之在五藏六府者，本各有其位，逆則相移**。「厥」讀 jué，本篇1見；「氣」讀 qì，本篇3見。

In brief

The name chapter 37 gives to its own subject: illness that moves from one viscus into another because qi has run contrary to its course. The chapter lists fifteen such transmissions and closes by naming the single cause behind all fifteen.

Senses in the classical corpus

What the graphs say 氣厥

氣逆而厥；厥，發石也，引申為逆

故得之氣厥也 — Suwen 37

The chapter's own definition 氣厥

寒熱相移而生諸變，皆由氣逆

故得之氣厥也 — Suwen 37

Cold moving 移寒

寒自一藏移入他藏，凡五變

腎移寒於肝，癰腫少氣 — Suwen 37

Heat moving 移熱

熱自一藏移入他藏，凡十變

脾移熱於肝，則爲驚衄 — Suwen 37

Distinguished from cold limbs 厥

「厥」之手足寒一義，與本篇氣逆之義別

故得之氣厥也 — Suwen 37

The closing verdict 故得之氣厥也

十五變雖殊，其得之則一

傳爲衄衊瞑目，故得之氣厥也 — Suwen 37

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 37 Suwen 37 · 氣厥論 Read in context →

傳爲衄衊瞑目，故得之氣厥也。传为衄衊瞑目，故得之气厥也。

Chuán wéi nǜ miè míng mù, gù dé zhī qì jué yě.

Transmitted further it becomes nosebleed, defiled blood and darkened sight — all of it, then, is got from counterflow of qi.

**「傳爲衄衊瞑目，故得之氣厥也」十四字，是本篇之結穴，亦是全篇唯一自解篇題之句**。**上自五藏六府，下至膀胱、小腸、大腸、胃、膽、腦，寒移五變、熱移十變，其為病者十五，而「故得之氣厥也」五字一齊收束**——**病雖十五，其得之則一**。**《素問》諸篇以末句點題者不多**，**本篇與第三十六篇「舌下兩脉者，廉泉也」之自注，同為篇末見義之例**。**「傳」「傳」讀 chuán，本篇4見**——**「移」言邪之自此之彼，「傳」言病之由此變彼**；**本篇「移」17見而「傳」4見**，**二字分工不混**。**「瞑」「瞑」讀 míng从目**——**與第三十二篇「暝」（日部）、第三十三篇「冥」三篇三形各異**，**各從底本**。

Compounds built on this term

寒熱相移

hán rè xiāng yí

cold and heat shifting into each other

本篇發端之問，全篇之綱

移寒

yí hán

the shifting of cold

本篇五變：腎→肝、脾→肝、肝→心、心→肺、肺→腎

移熱

yí rè

the shifting of heat

本篇十變，自藏而及府，終於膽移熱於腦

氣逆

qì nì

counterflow of qi

後世通用之語，與本篇「氣厥」同實而異名

How it has been translated

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

This site	qi counterflow	qi is left untranslated and lowercase; the word covers every transmission in the chapter, not only the fatal ones
Unschuld	qi reversal	renders the title 氣厥論 as 'On the Reversal of Qi'
Wiseman	qi counterflow	the same choice; Wiseman also keeps jue untranslated elsewhere

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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