Classica Sinica Medica

中根

zhōng gēn

The root within · zhong gen

Also rendered: The root within (this site; 中 is inside and 根 is what holds a thing to its ground, and the chapter sets this root against one without) · Inner root (literal; shorter, and it loses the contrast with 根于外者 that the paragraph is built on)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-13

At a glance

Pinyin
zhōng gēn
Simplified
中根
Literal
中 zhōng — within, inside; 根 gēn — root, the part a plant holds to the ground (《說文》: 根，木株也). 中根 is the root that is *within*: not the root a plant sends down, but the constitution a creature carries in itself, by which it answers or does not answer the qi of the year. The chapter sets it against 根于外者, the root outside, which is 氣立.
Shuowen
**「中根」本篇1見，止此一句**；**《說文》：根，木株也**；**「根于中者」本篇1見，即此中根，命曰神機**；**「根于外者」本篇2見，命曰氣立**；**「神機」本篇1見、「氣立」本篇1見，與中根相對**

In brief

The chapter’s name for what a creature is rooted in from within, and the reason the same year does not fall on the five classes alike. The paragraph that names it runs: 五類衰盛，各隨其氣之所宜也，故有胎孕不育，治之不全，此氣之常也，所謂中根也. What is being said is that the year’s qi decides what may flourish, but whether a given creature answers that qi is settled by what is rooted in the creature itself. The next paragraph gives the pair in full: 根于中者，命曰神機，神去則機息 — what is rooted within is called the spirit mechanism, and when the spirit goes the mechanism breathes out; 根于外者，命曰氣立，氣止則化絶 — what is rooted without is called the qi that stands, and when the qi stops its transformations stop too. 中根 is therefore the first and stronger half of a distinction the chapter ends on, and its point is that unevenness in a year is not disorder but 氣之常.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 中根
中者在内，根者本也
所謂中根也 — Suwen 70
2
The pairing 根于中者 / 根于外者
一在内曰神機，一在外曰氣立
根于中者，命曰神機 — Suwen 70
3
What it explains 胎孕不育，治之不全
歲氣雖一，物各有不齊
故有胎孕不育 — Suwen 70
4
Its ground 各隨其氣之所宜
衰盛隨氣，而根在物之自身
各隨其氣之所宜也 — Suwen 70
5
Its verdict 此氣之常也
不齊非病，乃生化之常
此氣之常也 — Suwen 70

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 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
五類衰盛，各隨其氣之所宜也，故有胎孕不育，治之不全，此氣之常也，所謂中根也。 五类衰盛，各随其气之所宜也，故有胎孕不育，治之不全，此气之常也，所谓中根也。
Wǔ lèi shuāi shèng, gè suí qí qì zhī suǒ yí yě, gù yǒu tāi yùn bù yù, zhì zhī bù quán, cǐ qì zhī cháng yě, suǒ wèi zhōng gēn yě.
The decline and flourishing of the five classes follow each what suits its qi; hence there is conception that does not come to term and nurture that is incomplete. This is the constant of the qi, what is called the root within.
**「中根」本篇1見，止此一句**；**此段作答「五類衰盛，各隨其氣之所宜也」，而以「所謂中根也」綰之**；**下段出「根于中者，命曰神機」「根于外者，命曰氣立」，為中根之對**；**「根于外者」本篇2見**

Compounds built on this term

神機
shén jī
spirit mechanism
本篇1見；根于中者，命曰神機，神去則機息
氣立
qì lì
the qi that stands
本篇1見；根于外者，命曰氣立
五類
wǔ lèi
the five classes
本篇3見
胎孕
tāi yùn
child-bearing
本篇2見；胎孕不育由中根之不齊

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe root withinthe constitution a creature answers the year's qi with; the rendering keeps it a root, which the contrast needs
Transliterationzhong genright about the referent, and it does not say inside what
Descriptivethe creature's own constitutionplain, and it turns the chapter's figure into a modern abstraction

Entry status

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2026-10-13

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