Classica Sinica Medica

駡詈 简体 骂詈

mà lì

Railing and cursing · ma li

Also rendered: railing and cursing (Keeps both verbs, in the order of the text) · shouting abuse (Single English idiom; loses the two-graph distinction)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
mà lì
Simplified
骂詈
Literal
Two verbs for the same violence of speech: 駡 mà, to curse at someone to their face, and 詈 lì, to heap abuse on them. Chapter 30 uses them together, and attributes the pair to a single cause — 陽盛則使人妄言駡詈, when yang is exuberant it makes a person speak wildly, rail and curse. Nothing in the explanation refers to character, grievance or mind; the abuse is a product of fullness, like the climbing and the running.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：罵，詈也，从网馬聲——**「駡」讀 mà，本篇二見**，與「罵」音義並同而形異，今通行本多作「罵」；**「詈」讀 lì，本篇二見**，《說文》：「詈，罵也」，析言之則**罵為直斥、詈為惡言相加**，本篇二字連用，總謂出言不遜、肆意詬罵。二字連言本篇二見：「其妄言駡詈」「使人妄言駡詈」，一在問語、一在答語。

In brief

Railing and cursing — the abusive speech chapter 30 lists among the behaviours of severe Yangming disease. The chapter pairs it with wild talk and with the loss of the distinction between kin and stranger, and explains all of it by yang exuberance. It is one of the earliest places in the literature where abusive speech is treated as a clinical sign with a bodily cause rather than as conduct.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The pair named 駡詈
二字連用，總謂肆意詬罵
其妄言駡詈，不避親疏而歌者，何也 — Suwen 30
2
With wild talk 妄言駡詈
妄者無端，言先亂而後及於罵
陽盛則使人妄言駡詈 — Suwen 30
3
What it is attributed to 陽盛則使人…
陽盛則言亂而肆，不關心智
陽盛則使人妄言駡詈，不避親疏 — Suwen 30
4
The distinction lost 不避親疏
親疏之別，人情之大防，病則不復顧
不避親疏，而不欲食 — Suwen 30
5
Its counterpart earlier in the chapter 惋則惡人
當其惋也惡人，及其陽盛也雖親疏不避
惋則惡人 — Suwen 30
6
Where it ends 故妄走也
既不思食，又不自止，故奔走無定所
而不欲食，不欲食，故妄走也 — Suwen 30

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·陽明脉解 Suwen 30 · 陽明脉解 Read in context →
帝曰：其妄言駡詈，不避親疏而歌者，何也？ 帝曰：其妄言骂詈，不避亲疏而歌者，何也？
Dì yuē: qí wàng yán mà lì, bù bì qīn shū ér gē zhě, hé yě?
The Emperor says: and why does he speak wildly, rail and curse, sparing neither kin nor stranger, and sing?
此句是本篇後段最後一問。「帝」讀 dì；「曰」讀 yuē；「其」讀 qí；**「妄」讀 wàng，本篇三見，狂亂、無端也**；「言」讀 yán，本篇二見；**「駡」讀 mà，本篇二見**，底本作「駡」，與「罵」形異而音義同；**「詈」讀 lì，本篇二見**，《說文》：「詈，罵也」，析言之則罵為直斥、詈為惡言相加；「不」讀 bù；「避」讀 bì；**「親」讀 qīn，本篇二見**，底本作「親」，不作「亲」；**「疏」讀 shū，本篇二見**，與「親」對言；「而」讀 ér；「歌」讀 gē；「者」讀 zhě；「何」讀 hé；「也」讀 yě。「不避親疏」四字最見病態之深：親疏之別，人情之大防，病者不復顧之，則羞惡之心亦隨陽盛而亡，與上文「惋則惡人」之一味畏人者正成反照。

Compounds built on this term

駡詈
mà lì
railing and cursing
本篇二見，問答各一
妄言駡詈
wàng yán mà lì
wild talk, railing and cursing
本篇二見
詈
lì
heaping abuse
本篇二見，與罵析言有別
不避親疏
bù bì qīn shū
sparing neither kin nor stranger
本篇二見，與駡詈同出

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng(rendered as) curses and revilesThey keep two English verbs for the two graphs, preserving the doubling of the Chinese.
Unschuld(rendered as) heaps abuse (on others)Unschuld collapses the pair into one verb, which reads well but drops the distinction the Shuowen draws.
This siterailing and cursingWe keep two verbs, following the Shuowen's distinction — 駡 is the direct curse, 詈 the piling on of abuse. The chapter uses both because it wants the speech to sound unrestrained, and a single English verb flattens a doubling that is doing work.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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