Classica Sinica Medica

脾風 简体 脾风

pí fēng

Spleen wind · pi feng

Also rendered: spleen wind (Literal, and how the term is used in later Chinese medicine) · wind in the spleen (Same, with the location marked more heavily) · splenic wind (Latinate; 脾 is not an adjective here) · pi feng (Bare transliteration)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
pí fēng
Simplified
脾风
Literal
脾 the spleen (《說文》: 土藏也); 風 wind (《說文》: 八風也……風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化). The third station of wind-cold as it marches inward.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：脾，土藏也；風，八風也（東方曰明庶風……），風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。

In brief

The third stage of the disease that begins as wind-cold in the skin. Untreated at the lung it becomes lung impediment; untreated there it passes to the liver and becomes liver impediment; and then it reaches the spleen, where it is called spleen wind. Its signs are the eruption of heat, heat inside the abdomen, vexation of the heart, and the passing of yellow. It is the stage at which the chapter still allows three treatments — pressing, medicine and bathing — before the disease moves on to the kidney, where the options narrow to two, and then to the heart, after which death is a matter of counting days.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
A stage in a marching disease 病名曰脾風
風寒由肺傳肝、由肝傳脾
弗治，肝傳之脾，病名曰脾風 — Suwen 19
2
Its signs 發癉，腹中熱，煩心出黄
發為熱，腹中熱，心煩而溺黃
病名曰脾風，發癉，腹中熱，煩心出黄 — Suwen 19
3
What can still be done 可按、可藥、可浴
按摩、藥物、洗浴三者並用
當此之時，可按、可藥、可浴 — Suwen 19
4
Where it came from 肝傳之脾
由肝痺傳變而來
弗治，肝傳之脾，病名曰脾風 — Suwen 19
5
Where it goes next 脾傳之腎
不治則傳腎而為疝瘕
弗治，脾傳之腎，病名曰疝瘕 — Suwen 19

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
弗治，肝傳之脾，病名曰脾風，發癉，腹中熱，煩心出黄，當此之時，可按、可藥、可浴。 弗治，肝传之脾，病名曰脾风，发瘅，腹中热，烦心出黄，当此之时，可按、可药、可浴。
Fú zhì, gān chuán zhī pí, bìng míng yuē pí fēng, fā dān, fù zhōng rè, fán xīn chū huáng, dāng cǐ zhī shí, kě àn, kě yào, kě yù.
Left untreated, the liver transmits it to the spleen; it is called spleen wind. It erupts as heat, there is heat in the abdomen, vexation of the heart and discharge of yellow. At that point one may press, may give medicine, may bathe.
本篇「風者，百病之長也」一節，敘風寒由表入裏之次第：毫毛畢直而皮膚閉熱，可汗而發；不治則入舍於肺而為肺痺；再不治則傳肝而為肝痺（一名曰厥）；再不治則傳脾而為脾風，發癉、腹中熱、煩心出黄，可按、可藥、可浴；再不治則傳腎而為疝瘕，終則傳心而為瘛。與第十篇「五藏痺」（肺痺、心痺、肝痺、腎痺、脾痺）同條而義別：第十篇列五藏之痺以言其證，本篇則以傳變之次第為言。
素問·風論 Suwen 42 · 風論 Read in context →
脾風之狀，多汗惡風，身體怠墯，四支不欲動，色薄微黄，不嗜食，診在鼻上，其色黄。 脾风之状，多汗恶风，身体怠墯，四支不欲动，色薄微黄，不嗜食，诊在鼻上，其色黄。
Pí fēng zhī zhuàng, duō hàn wù fēng, shēn tǐ dài duò, sì zhī bù yù dòng, sè bó wēi huáng, bù shì shí, zhěn zài bí shàng, qí sè huáng.
In spleen wind the patient sweats freely and loathes wind; the body is heavy and slack, the four limbs do not want to move; the colour is thin and faintly yellow and there is no desire for food. It is diagnosed on the nose, and the colour is yellow.
「脾風之狀，多汗惡風，身體怠墯，四支不欲動，色薄微黄，不嗜食，診在鼻上，其色黄」——**本篇五藏風之一**；**《玉機真藏論》之脾風為傳變之一期（發癉、腹中熱、煩心、出黄），與本篇專論風狀者詳略不同，同名而各有所指**。「墯」讀 duò**「怠墯」讀 dài duò，墯為「惰」之異體**；「嗜」讀 shì**「不嗜食」讀 shì**；「薄」讀 bó**「色薄微黄」讀 bó**；**「診在鼻上」——王冰以鼻為脾之部**。

Compounds built on this term

脾
pí
the spleen
說文：土藏也
風
fēng
wind
說文：八風也；本篇「風者，百病之長也」
發癉
fā dān
erupting as heat
癉音 dān，熱也
腹中熱
fù zhōng rè
heat within the abdomen
脾風之候
出黄
chū huáng
discharge of yellow
脾熱之徵

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fengspleen windTheir rendering for 脾風 as a disease name.
Common Englishspleen windStandard in both Chinese and English literature.
This sitespleen windThe term is not in dispute and the literal rendering carries everything the text needs: 脾 names the station the disease has reached and 風 names what is travelling — the chapter opens this passage by calling wind the chief of the hundred diseases, so by the third stage the reader is meant to recognise the same wind under a new name. Splenic would make 脾 a property of the wind rather than the place it has arrived at.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

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

See all reading paths