Classica Sinica Medica

六氣 简体 六气

liù qì

Six qi · liu qi

Also rendered: The six qi (this site; literal, and it leaves qi untranslated for the reason the site gives under 氣) · Liu qi (transliteration; used where the six are being listed with the five circuits)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin
liù qì
Simplified
六气
Literal
六 liù — six; 氣 qì — the activity of a thing rather than the thing itself. The six qi of this chapter are fire, dryness, cold, wind, heat and damp, and each of them governs one of the six positions from above: 少陽之上，火氣治之；陽明之上，燥氣治之…太陽之上，寒氣治之…厥陰之上，風氣治之…少陰之上，熱氣治之…太陰之上，濕氣治之. Two occurrences of the phrase itself, and the six named again and again around it. Fire is doubled — as sovereign and minister — because five phases cannot fill six places.
Shuowen
**「六」讀 liù，本篇40見**；**「氣」讀 qì，本篇82見**；**「六氣」本篇2見**；**本篇六氣為火、燥、寒、風、熱、濕；火分君相二火，故五運而六氣**

In brief

The six qi that govern the six positions from above, and the reason the year is divisible by six while the phases are five: fire is counted twice, as sovereign and as minister. Each of the six has a root, a tip, and a qi seen in the middle, and the chapter’s whole apparatus — the ring of the six, the six steps, the six positions with something bearing down under each — is built to place them. The six are also what the chapter measures: the beginning and end of the six qi, early and late, is the question that produces the four years of ke.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 六氣
六者數也，氣者天地之氣
六氣應五行之變何如 — Suwen 68
2
What the six are 火氣治之…燥氣治之
火、燥、寒、風、熱、濕，是為六氣
少陽之上，火氣治之 — Suwen 68
3
Why six and not five 君火之右，退行一步，相火治之
火分君相，故五運而六氣
君火之右，退行一步，相火治之 — Suwen 68
4
Each has three things 所謂本也。本之下，中之見也
六氣各有本、中見、標
所謂本也。本之下，中之見也；見之下，氣之標也。 — Suwen 68
5
Each is borne down 相火之下，水氣承之
六氣之下各有承之者
相火之下，水氣承之 — Suwen 68
6
What the chapter measures 六氣始終早晏何如
六氣各有始終早晚，以刻計之
願聞其歲，六氣始終早晏何如 — Suwen 68

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
Suwen 68 Suwen 68 · 六微㫖大論 Read in context →
帝曰：六氣應五行之變何如？歧伯曰：位有終始，氣有初中，上下不同，求之亦異也。 帝曰：六气应五行之变何如？歧伯曰：位有终始，气有初中，上下不同，求之亦异也。
Dì yuē: liù qì yìng wǔ xíng zhī biàn hé rú? Qí bó yuē: wèi yǒu zhōng shǐ, qì yǒu chū zhōng, shàng xià bù tóng, qiú zhī yì yì yě.
Huang Di said: how do the six qi answer to the changes of the five phases? Qi Bo said: positions have an end and a beginning; the qi has an initial and a middle. Above and below are not the same, and the way one seeks them differs as well.
**「六氣」本篇2見，此其一**；**「應」讀 yìng，本篇7見；六氣應五行之變**；**「終始」本篇1見；位有終始，氣有初中**；**「異」讀 yì，本篇3見；上下不同，求之亦異**
Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
帝曰：歲有胎孕不育，治之不全，何氣使然？岐伯曰：六氣五類，有相勝制也。同者盛之，異者衰之，此天地之道，生化之常也。 帝曰：岁有胎孕不育，治之不全，何气使然？岐伯曰：六气五类，有相胜制也。同者盛之，异者衰之，此天地之道，生化之常也。
Dì yuē: suì yǒu tāi yùn bù yù, zhì zhī bù quán, hé qì shǐ rán? Qí bó yuē: liù qì wǔ lèi, yǒu xiāng shèng zhì yě. Tóng zhě shèng zhī, yì zhě shuāi zhī, cǐ tiān dì zhī dào, shēng huà zhī cháng yě.
Huang Di said: in some years conception and gestation do not come to term and the nurture is incomplete — what qi makes it so? Qi Bo said: the six qis and the five classes have their mutual prevailing and constraining. What agrees with them they make flourish, what differs they make decline. This is the way of heaven and earth, the constant of engendering and transforming.
**「六氣」本篇1見，止在「六氣五類，有相勝制也」**；**六氣與五類相勝相制，為本篇論胎孕不育之綱**

Compounds built on this term

君火
jūn huǒ
sovereign fire
本篇4見；六氣之一，火之上者
相火
xiàng huǒ
minister fire
本篇2見；六氣之一，火之下者，讀 xiàng
五行
wǔ xíng
the five phases
本篇1見；六氣應五行之變
六節
liù jié
the six divisions
本篇1見；六節氣位，即六氣之位

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe six qiliteral from 六 and 氣; qi is left untranslated because every English substitute implies a physics these texts never assume
Transliterationliu qihow the phrase appears in writing on the 運氣 doctrine; right about the referent, and it drops the number that makes the point
Descriptivethe six seasonal qicommon, and it imports a notion of season the chapter does not use — these six govern positions, not seasons

Entry status

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2026-10-06

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