Classica Sinica Medica

七曜

qī yào

Seven luminaries · qi yao

Also rendered: The seven luminaries (this site; 曜 is the light of a body and then the body, and the English keeps both by naming them by their light) · The seven heavenly bodies (plainer, and it drops 曜's origin in shining)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin
qī yào
Simplified
七曜
Literal
七 qī — seven; 曜 yào — the light of a heavenly body, and then the body itself. Seven is the sun and moon with the five planets; the word is the standard one from the Han onwards. 七曜緯虚: the seven luminaries weave their courses through the emptiness. One occurrence, in the passage where the chapter explains what change actually does — heaven hangs out images, earth gives forms, the seven weave above, the five phases attach themselves below.
Shuowen
**「七」讀 qī，本篇1見：七曜1見、數之可七之屬**；**「曜」讀 yào，本篇1見，止在「七曜緯虚」一語**；**「緯」讀 wěi，本篇1見，是全站首見之字；緯者橫織之絲**；**「虚」讀 xū，本篇4見：太虚、七曜緯虚、故令虚而生化**

In brief

The sun and moon with the five planets, and in this chapter the things that weave the emptiness while the five phases attach themselves to the earth. The line is a pair, and the pair is the chapter’s model of how change works: 天垂象，地成形，七曜緯虚，五行麗地. What is above moves and gives images; what is below holds still and gives forms. The chapter then says why that matters — because form and essence are as root to branches, one may look up at the images and know what is far off.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 七曜
日月五星，凡七，皆有光之體
七曜緯虚 — Suwen 67
2
What they do here 七曜緯虚
緯者橫織，七曜如織於太虚之中
七曜緯虚，五行麗地 — Suwen 67
3
Their counterpart 五行麗地
七曜在天而緯虚，五行在地而麗地
七曜緯虚，五行麗地 — Suwen 67
4
The pair above them 天垂象，地成形
天垂其象，地成其形
天垂象，地成形 — Suwen 67
5
Why looking up is enough 形精之動，猶根本之與枝葉也
形精相須，故觀象可以知遠
仰觀其象，雖遠可知也。 — Suwen 67
6
The emptiness they weave 太虚
七曜所緯之虚，即地所處之太虚
地爲人之下，太虚之中者也。 — Suwen 67

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 67 Suwen 67 · 五運行大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：天地動靜，五行遷復，雖鬼臾區其上𠉀而已，猶不能徧明。夫變化之用，天垂象，地成形，七曜緯虚，五行麗地。地者，所以載生成之形類也；虚者，所以列應天之精氣也。形精之動，猶根本之與枝葉也。仰觀其象，雖遠可知也。 歧伯曰：天地动静，五行迁复，虽鬼臾区其上候而已，犹不能遍明。夫变化之用，天垂象，地成形，七曜纬虚，五行丽地。地者，所以载生成之形类也；虚者，所以列应天之精气也。形精之动，犹根本之与枝叶也。仰观其象，虽远可知也。
Qí bó yuē: tiān dì dòng jìng, wǔ xíng qiān fù, suī guǐ yú qū qí shàng hòu ér yǐ, yóu bù néng biàn míng. Fú biàn huà zhī yòng, tiān chuí xiàng, dì chéng xíng, qī yào wěi xū, wǔ xíng lí dì. Dì zhě, suǒ yǐ zài shēng chéng zhī xíng lèi yě; xū zhě, suǒ yǐ liè yìng tiān zhī jīng qì yě. Xíng jīng zhī dòng, yóu gēn běn zhī yǔ zhī yè yě. Yǎng guān qí xiàng, suī yuǎn kě zhī yě.
Qi Bo said: as to the movement and stillness of heaven and earth and the shifting and return of the five phases — although Gui Yu Qu could observe its signs above, he still could not illuminate it throughout. As for the working of change: heaven hangs out its images, earth gives things their forms, the seven luminaries weave their courses through the great emptiness, and the five phases attach themselves to the earth. Earth is that which carries the forms and kinds that are generated; the emptiness is that which arrays the essential qi answering to heaven. The movement of form and essence is as the root and trunk to the branches and leaves. Look up at those images above and what is far off can still be known.
**「七曜」本篇1見，在第十六段「七曜緯虚，五行麗地」一語**；**「緯」讀 wěi，是全站首見之字**；**「麗」讀 lí，本篇1見，附麗之義**；**此段四句兩兩相對：天垂象／地成形，七曜緯虚／五行麗地**；**「虚者，所以列應天之精氣也」之「虚」，即七曜所緯之虚**

Compounds built on this term

太虚
tài xū
the great void
本篇1見；七曜所緯之虚，亦地所居之中
五行
wǔ xíng
the five phases
本篇2見；五行麗地，與七曜緯虚為對
虚
xū
emptiness
本篇4見；虚者所以列應天之精氣也
天
tiān
heaven
本篇26見；天垂象而七曜緯乎其中

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe seven luminariesfrom 曜, the light of a heavenly body; the chapter's verb is 緯, to weave, and bodies that weave are being spoken of by their light
Enumeratingthe sun, moon and five planetswhat the seven are; right, and it is a gloss rather than a rendering of 曜
Transliterationqi yaoused where the term is being quoted rather than used

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-06

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Reading path

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