Classica Sinica Medica

脾癉 简体 脾瘅

pí dān

Spleen dan

Also rendered: Spleen dan (this site; 癉 is kept in pinyin because heat is only half of what the word carries) · Spleen heat (where the emphasis falls on the heat rather than on the illness it makes)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09-30

At a glance

Pinyin
pí dān
Simplified
脾瘅
Literal
脾癉 pí dān — the illness of a mouth that tastes sweet. 癉 is heat, and it must be read dān, not dǎn: the graph stands one stroke away from 疸, the graph of jaundice, and the two are constantly confused. The chapter's account is a small masterpiece of causation: flavour enters, the stomach stores it, the spleen fails to move it on, the fluids lodge, and the sweetness rises into the mouth.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：癉，勞病也，从疒單聲。「癉」讀 dān、**本篇2見**：**此「脾癉」與下文「膽癉」同形同讀**；**與「疸」（讀 dǎn）形近而音義俱別，底本不从「旦」**。

In brief

Heat in the spleen showing itself as a sweet taste in the mouth. Chapter 47 traces it to a diet of rich and sweet food: fat makes heat within, sweetness makes the centre full, the qi overflows upward and the illness turns into wasting and thirsting. The treatment is lan, given to remove the stale qi that has accumulated.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 脾癉
癉者熱也，讀 dān，與「疸」形近而音別
名曰脾癉 — Suwen 47
2
What it is 五氣之溢
五穀之氣上溢於口
此五氣之溢也 — Suwen 47
3
How it arises 五味入口，藏於胃
五味藏於胃，脾為之行其精氣
夫五味入口，藏於胃 — Suwen 47
4
Why the mouth is sweet 津液在脾
津液留脾，其氣上溢，故令口甘
津液在脾，故令人口甘也 — Suwen 47
5
Who gets it 數食甘美而多肥
肥者令人内熱，甘者令人中滿
此人必數食甘美而多肥也 — Suwen 47
6
What it turns into 轉爲消渴
熱滿不除，轉為消渴之病
轉爲消渴 — Suwen 47

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 47 Suwen 47 · 奇病論 Read in context →
帝曰：有病口甘者，病名爲何？何以得之？歧伯曰：此五氣之溢也，名曰脾癉。 帝曰：有病口甘者，病名为何？何以得之？歧伯曰：此五气之溢也，名曰脾瘅。
Dì yuē: yǒu bìng kǒu gān zhě, bìng míng wéi hé? Hé yǐ dé zhī? Qí bó yuē: cǐ wǔ qì zhī yì yě, míng yuē pí dān.
The Emperor asks: a person with a sweet taste in the mouth — what is the illness named, and how was it got? Qi Bo answers: this is an overflow of the five qi. It is named spleen dan.
**「名曰脾癉」——**「癉」讀 dān、**本篇2見**，**讀 dān，熱也，非「疸」dǎn**；「甘」讀 gān、**本篇4見**；**「此五氣之溢也」一句，為脾癉之定義**。

Compounds built on this term

脾癉
pí dān
spleen dan
本篇口甘之病名
五氣之溢
wǔ qì zhī yì
an overflow of the five qi
癉之所由
肥美
féi měi
rich and fine food
發病之因
消渴
xiāo kě
wasting and thirsting
脾癉之轉歸（另立專目）

How it has been translated

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

This sitespleen dan癉 is left in pinyin and glossed as heat, so that 脾癉 and 膽癉 read as one word in two places
Unschuldspleen danhe keeps the transcription and glosses it
Wisemanspleen heathis system renders 癉 as heat throughout

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09-30

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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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