Classica Sinica Medica

奇恒

qí héng

The anomalous · qi heng

Also rendered: the anomalous (Keeps both halves: what departs from the rule) · the strange and the constant (Splits the compound literally) · extraordinary disease (Clinical; drops the second syllable)

Core vocabulary

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
qí héng
Simplified
奇恒
Literal
奇 strange, uneven, what does not pair up (《說文》: 異也，一曰不耦); 恒 constant, lasting (《說文》作 恆: 常也). The two sit against each other: the strange and the constant, the exception and the rule. 底本作「奇𢘆」，「𢘆」為「恒（恆）」之古文異體。
Shuowen
《說文解字》：奇，異也；一曰不耦（段注：引申為奇邪、奇病）；恆，常也（段注：常，下帬也，引申為經常；从心从舟在二之間，謂往復而遙遠）。底本作「𢘆」，即「恆」之古文異體。

In brief

The other of the chapter’s two arts, and the harder one: the anomalous is what the rule does not cover. Qibo defines it in three words — 奇𢘆者，言奇病也, it speaks of strange illness — and the chapter spends the rest of its length showing what that means in practice: colour on the wrong side, doubled yang, a pulse with no stomach qi in it, a disease travelling into the organ that conquers it. The same word gives 奇𢘆之府 in chapter 11, the palaces that hold rather than transmit — there too it marks what breaks the rule.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Strange illness 奇𢘆者，言奇病也
王冰：「奇恒者，言奇病也。」
奇𢘆者，言奇病也 — Suwen 15
2
Read together with 揆度, one dao 揆度奇𢘆，道在於一
常變雖殊，其道則一
揆度奇𢘆，道在於一 — Suwen 15
3
The method begins with the greater yin 行奇𢘆之法，以太陰始
行奇𢘆之法自手太陰寸口始，以決所勝所不勝
行奇𢘆之法，以太陰始 — Suwen 15
4
The same word in 奇𢘆之府 奇𢘆之府
第十一篇：腦、髓、骨、脈、膽、女子胞，藏而不瀉，故曰奇𢘆之府
（第十一篇） — Suwen 11

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
素問·玉版論要 Suwen 15 · 玉版論要 Read in context →
黄帝問曰：余聞揆度、奇𢘆，所指不同，用之奈何？歧伯對曰：揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。請言道之至數，五色脉變，揆度奇𢘆，道在於一。 黄帝问曰：余闻揆度、奇𢘆，所指不同，用之奈何？岐伯对曰：揆度者，度病之浅深也；奇𢘆者，言奇病也。请言道之至数，五色脉变，揆度奇𢘆，道在于一。
huáng dì wèn yuē: yú wén kuí duó, qí héng, suǒ zhǐ bù tóng, yòng zhī nài hé?qí bó duì yuē: kuí duó zhě, duó bìng zhī qiǎn shēn yě; qí héng zhě, yán qí bìng yě. qǐng yán dào zhī zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī.
The Yellow Emperor asks: I have heard of assessment and of the anomalous. The two point at different things. How are they used? Qibo replies: assessment is measuring the shallowness and depth of an illness; the anomalous speaks of strange illness. Let me speak of the ultimate numbers of the Way: the shifts of the five colours, the shifts of the pulse, assessment and the anomalous — the Way lies in the one.
本篇開章：「余聞揆度、奇𢘆，所指不同，用之奈何？」王冰：「揆度者，度病之淺深也；奇恒者，言奇病也。」又「揆度奇𢘆，道在於一」——常變雖殊，其道則一。「行奇𢘆之法，以太陰始」則言其施行之序。第十一篇「奇𢘆之府」與本篇之「奇𢘆」同名而所指不同：彼指藏而不瀉之府，此指異於常候之病。
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至數，五色脉變，揆度奇恒，道在於一。神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機。至數之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦讀之，名曰《玉機》。 帝瞿然而起，再拜而稽首曰：善。吾得脉之大要，天下至数，五色脉变，揆度奇恒，道在于一。神转不回，回则不转，乃失其机。至数之要，迫近以微，著之玉版，藏之藏府，每旦读之，名曰《玉机》。
Dì jù rán ér qǐ, zài bài ér qǐ shǒu yuē: shàn. Wú dé mài zhī dà yào, tiān xià zhì shù, wǔ sè mài biàn, kuí duó qí héng, dào zài yú yī. Shén zhuǎn bù huí, huí zé bù zhuǎn, nǎi shī qí jī. Zhì shù zhī yào, pò jìn yǐ wēi, zhù zhī yù bǎn, cáng zhī zàng fǔ, měi dàn dú zhī, míng yuē Yù jī.
The Emperor starts up in alarm, bows twice and touches his head to the ground: “Good. I have the great essentials of the pulse — the ultimate numbers under heaven, the changes of the five colours and the pulse, assessment and the anomalous-constant. The way lies in the one. The spirit turns and does not turn back; if it turns back it no longer turns, and the pivot is lost. The essential of the ultimate numbers is immediate and minute: write it on a jade tablet, store it in the storehouse of the viscera, read it every morning, and call it the Jade Mechanism.”
「揆度奇恒，道在於一」：底本作「恒」；第十五篇《玉版論要》同文作「奇𢘆」（恒之古文），各從底本。本篇奇恒之義，與揆度並舉而歸於一。與第十五篇「奇恒」（奇恒者，言奇病也）同條而義進：第十五篇分釋揆度與奇恒之義，本篇則合言之——常者揆度之所度，變者奇恒之所言，二者同歸於一；下文「神轉不迴，迴則不轉，乃失其機」，即一之所在。
素問·病能論 Suwen 46 · 病能論 Read in context →
帝曰：人之不得偃卧者，何也？歧伯曰：肺者，藏之蓋也。肺氣盛則脉大，脉大則不得偃卧。論在奇恒陰陽中。 帝曰：人之不得偃卧者，何也？歧伯曰：肺者，脏之盖也。肺气盛则脉大，脉大则不得偃卧。论在奇恒阴阳中。
Dì yuē: rén zhī bù dé yǎn wò zhě, hé yě? Qí bó yuē: fèi zhě, zàng zhī gài yě. Fèi qì shèng zé mài dà, mài dà zé bù dé yǎn wò. Lùn zài qí héng yīn yáng zhōng.
The Emperor asks: and why can some people not lie flat? Qi Bo says: the lung is the canopy of the stores. When lung qi is exuberant the conduit is large, and a large conduit will not let a person lie flat. The discussion of it is in the Qi heng yin yang.
「論在「奇」讀 qí「恒」讀 héng陰陽中」——**本篇「恒」1見而作「恒」，下文「奇「𢘆」讀 héng者」二見則作「𢘆」，同篇二形並存**；**此「奇恒陰陽」為古醫書名，與下文所釋揆度、奇恒諸書同例**；「論」讀 lùn，**論讀 lùn**。

Compounds built on this term

奇
qí
strange, uneven
說文：異也，一曰不耦
恒
héng
constant
說文作「恆」：常也；底本作「𢘆」
奇病
qí bìng
strange illness
王冰釋「奇𢘆」之語
奇𢘆之府
qí héng zhī fǔ
the extraordinary constant palaces
第十一篇；與本篇之「奇𢘆」同名而所指不同
揆度
kuí duó
assessment
與「奇𢘆」對舉

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe extraordinary, or strange diseasesMost renderings take 奇 alone and drop 恒.
This sitethe anomalousThe compound is a pair of opposites — the strange set against the constant — and the chapter's whole argument is that both belong to one dao. Anomalous carries that: an anomaly is by definition a departure from a rule, so the word keeps 奇 and implies 恒 without having to say it. Extraordinary diseases would make it a class of illness, which is not what Qibo says.

Entry status

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2026-09

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