水榖氣简体水谷气

shuǐ gǔ qì

Qi of water and grain · shui gu qi

Also rendered: qi of water and grain (Keeps both sources, as the phrase does) · grain qi (Shorter; drops the water half of the pair)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: shuǐ gǔ qì
Simplified: 水谷气
Literal: 水 is water, 榖 is grain, 氣 is the qi that the two become once they have been digested. The phrase is the chapter's name for what the body actually runs on, and it is the thing whose failure chapter 29 traces all the way out to the limbs. Note the graph: the base text writes 榖, a variant of the ordinary 穀, and both are simplified to 谷. What matters doctrinally is that the qi in question is not the air one breathes — that is the qi of heaven, and the throat governs it — but the qi extracted from what one eats and drinks, which is the qi of earth, and which the pharynx governs.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：水，準也，北方之行；穀，續也，百穀之總名。**「榖」讀 gǔ，本篇二見，即「穀」之異體**，簡化作「谷」；榖從木、穀從禾，典籍多通用，底本二字皆從木，照錄不改。「水」讀 shuǐ，本篇二見；「氣」讀 qì，本篇十七見，為全篇用字之最。

In brief

The qi extracted from food and drink — what the body lives on after the stomach has done its work and the spleen has carried the result outward. Chapter 29 makes it the hinge of its account of the limbs: the limbs take their qi from the stomach, but they cannot receive the qi of water and grain unless the spleen moves it, and when the spleen fails they weaken day by day until sinew, bone, muscle and flesh have nothing to live on. The phrase belongs to the chapter’s earth side of things: water and grain are what the pharynx takes in, as opposed to the air that the throat takes in.

Senses in the classical corpus

The phrase 水榖氣

水榖所化之精氣，人身之所仰

四支不得稟水榖氣 — Suwen 29

Where it comes from 胃

胃為水榖之海，受納而化之

四支皆稟氣於胃 — Suwen 29

What carries it 脾

脾為胃行其津液，而後水榖之氣得達

必因於脾，乃得禀也 — Suwen 29

What happens without it 氣日以衰

不得水榖之氣則氣日衰

四支不得稟水榖氣，氣日以衰 — Suwen 29

What it feeds 筋骨肌肉

筋骨肌肉無氣以生

筋骨肌肉，皆無氣以生，故不用焉 — Suwen 29

The heaven-side counterpart 喉主天氣

天氣為呼吸之清氣，地氣為水榖之氣

故喉主天氣，咽主地氣 — Suwen 29

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·太陰陽明論 Suwen 29 · 太陰陽明論 Read in context →

今脾病不能爲胃行其津液，四支不得稟水榖氣，氣日以衰，脉道不利，筋骨肌肉，皆無氣以生，故不用焉。今脾病不能为胃行其津液，四支不得禀水谷气，气日以衰，脉道不利，筋骨肌肉，皆无气以生，故不用焉。

Jīn pí bìng bù néng wèi wèi xíng qí jīn yè, sì zhī bù dé bǐng shuǐ gǔ qì, qì rì yǐ shuāi, mài dào bù lì, jīn gǔ jī ròu, jiē wú qì yǐ shēng, gù bù yòng yān.

Now, when the spleen is diseased and cannot move the fluids on behalf of the stomach, the four limbs do not receive the qi of water and grain. The qi weakens day by day, the ways of the vessels do not flow freely, and the sinews, bones, muscles and flesh all have no qi with which to live — hence they cannot be used.

此句是本篇論脾病及於形體最詳之一段。「今」讀 jīn，假設之辭，猶言「若」；「脾」讀 pí；「病」讀 bìng；「不」讀 bù；「能」讀 néng；**「爲」此處讀 wèi，替也、代之也**——與篇首「爲表裏」之讀 wéi 者**同形異讀**；「胃」讀 wèi；「行」讀 xíng；「其」讀 qí；「津」讀 jīn；「液」讀 yè；「四」讀 sì；「支」讀 zhī；「得」讀 dé；「稟」讀 bǐng；「水」讀 shuǐ；「榖」讀 gǔ；「氣」讀 qì；「日」讀 rì；「以」讀 yǐ；「衰」讀 shuāi；「脉」讀 mài；「道」讀 dào；「利」讀 lì；「筋」讀 jīn；「骨」讀 gǔ；「肌」讀 jī；「肉」讀 ròu；「皆」讀 jiē；**「無」讀 wú，底本作「無」，不作「无」**；「生」讀 shēng；「故」讀 gù；「用」讀 yòng；「焉」讀 yān。「爲胃行其津液」五字即後世「脾為胃行其津液」之說所本；**此段與篇末「四支不得稟水榖氣，日以益衰，陰道不利……」重出而文小異**（此作「氣日以衰，脉道不利」，篇末作「日以益衰，陰道不利」），疑傳寫之異，各從底本照錄而互注。

素問·熱論 Suwen 31 · 陽明脉解 Read in context →

若此者，皆病已衰而熱有所藏，因其榖氣相薄，兩熱相合，故有所遺也。若此者，皆病已衰而热有所藏，因其谷气相薄，两热相合，故有所遗也。

Ruò cǐ zhě, jiē bìng yǐ shuāi ér rè yǒu suǒ cáng, yīn qí gǔ qì xiāng bó, liǎng rè xiāng hé, gù yǒu suǒ yí yě.

In such a case the disease has already declined but the heat is stored somewhere; the grain qi and it press against each other, two heats join, and so something is left behind.

「水榖氣」之目於本站已立（id 901），本篇則用「榖氣」二字而別申其害：「因其榖氣相薄，兩熱相合，故有所遺也」——水榖之氣本以養人，熱病未衰而納之，則反與熱相合而為害。「若」讀 ruò；「此」讀 cǐ，本篇二見；「者」讀 zhě；「皆」讀 jiē；「病」讀 bìng；「已」讀 yǐ；「衰」讀 shuāi；「而」讀 ér；「熱」讀 rè，本篇十三見；「有」讀 yǒu，本篇四見；「所」讀 suǒ，本篇四見；**「藏」讀 cáng，藏匿也**——本篇「藏」六見，此一見獨讀 cáng，餘五見讀 zàng，同形異讀並見；「因」讀 yīn；「其」讀 qí；**「榖」讀 gǔ，即「穀」之異體，從木**——與第二十二、二十九篇「榖」字同例，各從底本；「氣」讀 qì；「相」讀 xiāng，本篇二見；**「薄」讀 bó，通「搏」，相迫也**，不讀 báo；「兩」讀 liǎng，本篇五見；「合」讀 hé；「故」讀 gù；「遺」讀 yí，本篇六見；「也」讀 yě。**「兩熱相合」謂舊有之熱與新入之穀氣之熱相合**，故熱反不去；此與本站「水榖氣」條他篇之義（水榖氣以養人）正可互注——同一水榖之氣，用之得宜則養，失其時則為遺熱之媒。

Compounds built on this term

水榖氣

shuǐ gǔ qì

the qi of water and grain

本篇二見，四支之所稟

水榖之海

shuǐ gǔ zhī hǎi

the sea of water and grain

本篇稱陽明，義同

胃氣

wèi qì

stomach qi

本站已立目（id 321），與水榖氣義通

五榖

wǔ gǔ

the five grains

本站已立目（id 721），「榖」字同例

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	qi of grain and water	They keep both nouns and reverse the order, which reads more naturally in English and leaves the meaning intact.
Unschuld	qi of the water and grain	Unschuld keeps the Chinese order and adds the article, treating the phrase as a fixed object rather than a compound.
This site	qi of water and grain	We keep the Chinese order: the chapter is about to contrast this qi with the qi of heaven that the throat governs, and holding the phrase steady across both passages makes the contrast visible without a gloss.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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