The year's exposure · sui lu

Also rendered: The year's dew (literal, and it is a mistranslation) · The year's visitation (literary, and it loses 露) · The year's exposure (the site's convention: what the year exposes men to)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-26

At a glance

Pinyin: suì lù
Simplified: 岁露
Literal: 歲 suì — the year, its weather and its fortune; 露 lù — exposure, the dew a man is left standing in. Together: what a whole population suffers when the year itself is out of order.
Shuowen: 《說文》：歲，木星也，越歷二十八宿，宣徧陰陽，十二月一次。露，潤澤也。从雨路聲。此篇「遇歲露」謂逢歲之虛邪，非露水之露，猶《詩》「匪風發兮」之比。

In brief

The year’s exposure is the name for a whole population falling ill at once, and the chapter’s answer to why. Wind and rain on the solstice are the year’s first sign; a wind from the south then is 虚風 and enters those who are out in the day; it lodges in the bone and does not come out until spring opens the seams of the skin, and then a second wind from the west meets it, 此兩邪相搏，經氣結代者矣. 故諸逢其風而遇其雨者，命曰遇歲露焉 — whoever meets that wind and that rain has met the year’s exposure. The rest of the chapter is the calendar of such years: the wind on the first day of the first month read by direction, the signs of particular months, and the difference between a year that is in harmony and one that is not.

Senses in the classical corpus

病名命曰遇歲露焉

叫做遇歲露

Whoever meets that wind and rain has met the year's exposure.

遇歲露 — 靈樞·歲露論

所由成此兩邪相搏，經氣結代者矣

這是兩邪相搏，經氣結代

Two evils wrestling: the channels' qi knots and misses.

兩邪相搏 — 靈樞·歲露論

歲之和與不和因歲之和而少賊風者，民少病而少死

年歲和順、賊風少，民少病少死

A harmonious year with few thieving winds: few sick, few dead.

因歲之和 — 靈樞·歲露論

Occurrences in the classics

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

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1 passages

靈樞·歲露論 Read in context →

少師曰：𠉀此者，常以冬至之日，太一立於叶蟄之宫，其至也，天必應之以風雨者矣。風雨從南方來者，爲虚風，賊傷人者也。其以夜半至也，萬民皆卧而弗犯也，故其歲民小病。其以晝至者，萬民懈惰，而皆中於虚風，故萬民多病。虚邪入客於骨，而不發於外。至其立春，陽氣大發，腠理開，因立春之日，風從西方來，萬民又皆中於虚風，此兩邪相搏，經氣結代者矣。故諸逢其風而遇其雨者，命曰遇歲露焉。因歲之和而少賊風者，民少病而少死；歲多賊風邪氣，寒温不和，則民多病而死矣。少师曰：𠉀此者，常以冬至之日，太一立于叶蛰之宫，其至也，天必应之以风雨者矣。风雨从南方来者，为虚风，贼伤人者也。其以夜半至也，万民皆卧而弗犯也，故其岁民小病。其以昼至者，万民懈惰，而皆中于虚风，故万民多病。虚邪入客于骨，而不发于外。至其立春，阳气大发，腠理开，因立春之日，风从西方来，万民又皆中于虚风，此两邪相搏，经气结代者矣。故诸逢其风而遇其雨者，命曰遇岁露焉。因岁之和而少贼风者，民少病而少死；岁多贼风邪气，寒温不和，则民多病而死矣。

shào shī yuē: hòu cǐ zhě, cháng yǐ dōng zhì zhī rì, tài yī lì yú yè zhé zhī gōng, qí zhì yě, tiān bì yīng zhī yǐ fēng yǔ zhě yǐ. fēng yǔ cóng nán fāng lái zhě, wéi xū fēng, zéi shāng rén zhě yě. qí yǐ yè bàn zhì yě, wàn mín jiē wò ér fú fàn yě, gù qí suì mín xiǎo bìng. qí yǐ zhòu zhì zhě, wàn mín xiè duò, ér jiē zhòng yú xū fēng, gù wàn mín duō bìng. xū xié rù kè yú gǔ, ér bù fā yú wài. zhì qí lì chūn, yáng qì dà fā, còu lǐ kāi, yīn lì chūn zhī rì, fēng cóng xī fāng lái, wàn mín yòu jiē zhòng yú xū fēng, cǐ liǎng xié xiāng bó, jīng qì jié dài zhě yǐ. gù zhū féng qí fēng ér yù qí yǔ zhě, mìng yuē yù suì lù yān. yīn suì zhī hé ér shǎo zéi fēng zhě, mín shǎo bìng ér shǎo sǐ; suì duō zéi fēng xié qì, hán wēn bù hé, zé mín duō bìng ér sǐ yǐ.

Shao Shi said: To wait on this, always on the day of the winter solstice, when the Great One stands in the palace of Yezhe, heaven must answer his arrival with wind and rain. Rain and wind from the south are empty wind, which injures men thievishly. If it comes at midnight, all the people lie down and do not meet it, and so in that year they are little ill. If it comes by day, the people are slack and all are struck by the empty wind, and so many are ill. Empty evil lodges in the bone and does not issue outward. At the beginning of spring, when yang qi greatly issues and the interstices open, and on that day wind comes from the west, the people are all struck by empty wind again; the two evils strike each other and the channel qi knots and is interrupted. Hence all who meet its wind and encounter its rain are said to meet the year’s exposure. When the year is harmonious and thieving winds are few, the people are little ill and few die; when the year has many thieving winds and evil qi, and cold and warmth are not in harmony, many fall ill and die.

「歲露」本篇1見，少師言冬至風雨、立春再中虚風，兩邪相搏，而命曰遇歲露，一篇之名由此，故引全段。

Compounds built on this term

虚風

xū fēng

the empty wind

從南方來，賊傷人者

三虚

sān xū

the three emptinesses

乘年之衰，逢月之空，失時之和

How it has been translated

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

This site	the year's exposure	the year as the agent
Literal	yearly dew	exact, and wrong
Epidemic	modern clinical shorthand	it claims more than the chapter does

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-26

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