Classica Sinica Medica

凍慄 简体 冻栗

dòng lì

Shivering · dong li

Also rendered: rigoring (Clinical and precise, but far too modern for the text's register) · cold trembling (Loses the freezing that 凍 carries with its ice radical)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
dòng lì
Simplified
冻栗
Literal
凍 dòng, frozen — the graph has 仌, ice, in it; 慄 lì, trembling, written by this base text with 心 rather than 木. The chapter's puzzle is that the patient does not do it: a body so cold that hot water, fire and thick clothing cannot warm it, and yet no shivering. The absence turns out to be evidence rather than a missing symptom.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：凍，仌也，从仌，東聲——寒而凝也。《說文解字》：慄（栗），栗木也，从木——引申為戰慄，从心作者為後起專字。「凍」讀 dòng，本篇 3 見——**从仌，不作「冻」（「冻」）**；「慄」讀 lì，本篇 3 見——**从心从栗，底本不从木，不作「栗」（「栗」）**；**「凍慄」二字，《素問》通例如此**，與「戰慄」同構。「然」讀 rán，本篇 2 見；「不」讀 bù；「人」讀 rén；「有」讀 yǒu；「身」讀 shēn；「寒」讀 hán；「湯」讀 tāng，本篇惟此一見；「火」讀 huǒ；「能」讀 néng；「熱」讀 rè，本篇 5 見；「厚」讀 hòu，本篇惟此一見；「衣」讀 yī；「温」讀 wēn，本篇 2 見；「是」讀 shì；「爲」讀 wéi，本篇 3 見；「何」讀 hé；「病」讀 bìng。**「然不凍慄」四字是此問之疑點**：寒甚至骨而反不戰抖，此非常之情，故帝特問之。**下文即以「一水不能勝二火」答之——寒而不慄，正以陽猶在也**：肝心二陽猶存，故雖寒甚而不至於慄。**與第三十二篇「先淅然厥」之以「淅然」狀寒慄者同工**：彼言其將寒之狀，此言其不寒之故。

In brief

Shivering: freezing and trembling. The chapter is interested in the one patient who does not do it — so cold that nothing warms him, and yet still. The explanation is that the liver is one yang and the heart a second, so there is fire enough left that the cold never turns into shivering, even though one water cannot overcome two fires.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Freezing and trembling 凍慄
凍从仌，慄从心，二字同義相成
然不凍慄 — Suwen 34
2
The puzzle: it is absent 然不凍慄
寒甚而不慄，故帝特問
然不凍慄 — Suwen 34
3
The cold that nothing warms 湯火不能熱，厚衣不能温
自外加之之暖皆無所用
湯火不能熱 — Suwen 34
4
Why: fire enough remains 肝一陽也，心二陽也
二陽猶在，故不至於慄
肝一陽也，心二陽也 — Suwen 34
5
Why: one water, two fires 一水不能勝二火
腎孤藏，故不勝而不慄
一水不能勝二火 — Suwen 34
6
The disease it belongs to 病名曰骨痺
寒至骨而不慄，是骨痺之情
病名曰骨痺 — Suwen 34

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·逆調論 Suwen 34 · 逆調論 Read in context →
帝曰：人有身寒，湯火不能熱，厚衣不能温，然不凍慄，是爲何病？ 帝曰：人有身寒，汤火不能热，厚衣不能温，然不冻栗，是为何病？
Dì yuē: rén yǒu shēn hán, tāng huǒ bù néng rè, hòu yī bù néng wēn, rán bù dòng lì, shì wéi hé bìng?
The Emperor asks: a person has a cold body — hot water and fire cannot warm it, thick clothing cannot warm it — and yet there is no shivering. What disease is this?
第三問。「人」讀 rén；「有」讀 yǒu；「身」讀 shēn；「寒」讀 hán；「湯」讀 tāng；「火」讀 huǒ；「不」讀 bù；「能」讀 néng；「熱」讀 rè；「厚」讀 hòu；「衣」讀 yī；「温」讀 wēn；「然」讀 rán；「凍」讀 dòng；「慄」讀 lì；「是」讀 shì；「爲」讀 wéi；「何」讀 hé；「病」讀 bìng。**「湯火不能熱，厚衣不能温」十字，是從外加之暖皆無所用**：湯火者自外加之之至暖，厚衣者自外衛之之至厚，而皆不能為力——**則其寒不在外而在內、不在形而在氣**。**此問與第二問相對**：第二問「非衣寒」而寒從中生，此問則「厚衣不能温」而寒自內甚——**一則問寒之來，一則問寒之極**。

Compounds built on this term

凍慄
dòng lì
shivering
本篇三見，皆以「不」字領之
然不凍慄
rán bù dòng lì
and yet no shivering
本篇三、四兩問之疑點所在
湯火不能熱
tāng huǒ bù néng rè
hot water and fire cannot warm
湯讀 tāng，熱水也
一水不能勝二火
yī shuǐ bù néng shèng èr huǒ
one water cannot overcome two fires
所以不慄之故

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & FengshiveringThey keep the ordinary word, which is right for a text that is asking why the ordinary thing is not happening.
Unschuldshivering with coldUnschuld adds the cause the graph already carries in 仌, which helps a reader who cannot see the radical.
This siteshiveringWe keep the ordinary word too. The chapter's whole point is the absence of an ordinary response in an extraordinary body, and the plainer the English, the better that absence reads.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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