Classica Sinica Medica

隱曲 简体 隐曲

yǐn qū

The hidden and the bent · yin qu

Also rendered: The hidden and the bent (this site; literal, and it keeps the obscurity — the phrase declines to name the parts) · Yin qu (transliteration; how the phrase is left wherever the commentators' disagreement over its referent is being reported)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-11

At a glance

Pinyin
yǐn qū
Simplified
隐曲
Literal
隱 yǐn — hidden, covered over (《說文》: 隱，蔽也); 曲 qū — bent, crooked, not straight (《說文》: 曲，象器曲受物之形). 隱曲 is what is hidden and what runs bent: the parts a person does not show, and the passages that do not go straight. The phrase names them without naming them, which is why the commentators have argued about it for as long as the chapter has been read.
Shuowen
**「隱曲」本篇2見：第十一段「有不得隱曲」，第二十九段「發盡不得隱曲」**；**「隱」讀 yǐn，本篇2見，皆在「隱曲」一詞內**；**「曲」讀 qū，本篇2見，亦皆在「隱曲」一詞內**；**《說文》：隱，蔽也；曲，象器曲受物之形**；**「隱」與「曲」本篇皆不單用：二字連言，始成此名**

In brief

Twice in the chapter, and both times in the same phrase, 不得隱曲 — the inability to use what is hidden and bent. It comes first in ¶11 with the second yang’s disease: 二陽之病發心脾，有不得隱曲，女子不月. It comes again with the three yin and three yang knotted: 心腹滿，發盡不得隱曲，五日死. 王冰 places 隱曲 in the anterior and posterior privates; other readers place it in the bowels, which lie bent within the body. The chapter itself does not decide, and the phrase is built to leave the question open: what is hidden and bent cannot be used. Because it appears beside 女子不月 in the first case and beside 心腹滿 in the second, the two together are enough to show what kind of thing is meant.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 隱曲
隱者蔽也，曲者屈也；隱處而屈曲者
有不得隱曲 — Suwen 7
2
In the woman's case 有不得隱曲，女子不月
二陽之病發心脾，隱曲不利而月事不行
女子不月 — Suwen 7
3
Where they are 隱曲
王冰指前後二陰；一說指腸道之屈曲，二說並存
有不得隱曲 — Suwen 7
4
The second appearance 發盡不得隱曲
三陰三陽俱搏，心腹滿，氣盡則隱曲不得
發盡不得隱曲 — Suwen 7
5
What 不得 means 不得隱曲
非不欲，是不能；氣不行故不用
有不得隱曲 — Suwen 7
6
The reading of 曲 曲讀 qū
曲者屈曲，非樂曲之曲
有不得隱曲 — Suwen 7

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·陰陽别論 Suwen 7 · 陰陽别論 Read in context →
曰：二陽之病發心脾，有不得隱曲，女子不月。其傳爲風消，其傳爲息賁者，死不治。 曰：二阳之病发心脾，有不得隐曲，女子不月。其传为风消，其传为息贲者，死不治。
yuē: èr yáng zhī bìng fā xīn pí, yǒu bù dé yǐn qū, nǚ zǐ bù yuè. qí chuán wéi fēng xiāo, qí chuán wéi xī bēn zhě, sǐ bù zhì.
It is said: in disease of the second yang, the illness arises in the heart and spleen; there is something that cannot be spoken of, and in women the menses stop. If it transmits into wind-wasting, and then transmits into rushing breath, death follows and there is no cure.
**「隱曲」本篇2見，此段有其1，另一見在第二十九段「發盡不得隱曲」**；**「有不得隱曲」與「女子不月」連文，皆二陽之病所發**；**「隱曲」王冰指前後二陰，後人指腸道屈曲之處，二說並存，本篇不改底本**；**「不月」本篇1見，本站據此句新立目**；**第二十九段「發盡不得隱曲」在三陰三陽俱搏之下，是死候，與此段不同**

Compounds built on this term

不月
bù yuè
no monthly flow
本篇1見；本站新立目，與此連文
心脾
xīn pí
the heart and the spleen
本篇1見；二陽之病發心脾
前後二陰
qián hòu èr yīn
the two privates
本篇0見，是王冰注語，非底本之文
三陰三陽
sān yīn sān yáng
the three yin and the three yang
本篇1見；本站第二九八條

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe hidden and the bent隱 is what is covered and 曲 what runs crooked; the phrase says what sort of place it is without deciding which place
Transliterationyin quhow the phrase is written where this sentence is discussed; right about the referent, and it stops the reader dead at the ambiguity
Descriptivethe private parts and the bowelwhat the commentators make of it, and it chooses between two readings the chapter leaves open

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-11

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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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