Classica Sinica Medica

胎病

tāi bìng

Womb illness

Also rendered: Womb illness (this site; 胎 is the womb, and the name says where the illness was got, not merely that it is congenital) · Congenital illness (the plainer term, where the emphasis falls on being born with it)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09-30

At a glance

Pinyin
tāi bìng
Simplified
胎病
Literal
胎病 tāi bìng — the name for an illness a child is born with, and the earliest Chinese account of a congenital disease with a cause attached to it. The chapter is precise about when: not at birth, but while the child was still in the mother's belly, when the mother had a great fright and the qi rose and did not come down.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：胎，婦孕三月也，从肉台聲。「胎」讀 tāi、**本篇惟此一見**；「母」讀 mǔ、**本篇2見**：**「在母腹中時」「其母有所大驚」二處**；**「驚」本篇3見**。

In brief

An illness got before birth. Asked what to call the peak illness a child is born with, chapter 47 answers with a cause rather than a prognosis: the mother, while the child was in her belly, suffered a great fright, so that the qi rose and did not descend and the essence qi stayed gathered together; hence the child develops the peak illness.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 胎病
胎者母腹之中，病得之於未生之先
病名爲胎病 — Suwen 47
2
When it was got 在母腹中時
得之在未生之前，非生後所得
此得之在母腹中時 — Suwen 47
3
What happened 其母有所大驚
母受大驚，氣因而上
其母有所大驚 — Suwen 47
4
The mechanism 氣上而不下
驚則氣亂，上而不復下行
氣上而不下 — Suwen 47
5
What gathered 精氣并居
精氣并聚而不散
精氣并居 — Suwen 47
6
What the child develops 發爲巔疾
子發為巔疾，其病在頭頂
故令子發爲巔疾也 — Suwen 47

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 47 Suwen 47 · 奇病論 Read in context →
帝曰：人生而有病巔疾者，病名曰何？安所得之？歧伯曰：病名爲胎病。此得之在母腹中時，其母有所大驚，氣上而不下，精氣并居，故令子發爲巔疾也。 帝曰：人生而有病巅疾者，病名曰何？安所得之？歧伯曰：病名为胎病。此得之在母腹中时，其母有所大惊，气上而不下，精气并居，故令子发为巅疾也。
Dì yuē: rén shēng ér yǒu bìng diān jí zhě, bìng míng yuē hé? Ān suǒ dé zhī? Qí bó yuē: bìng míng wéi tāi bìng. Cǐ dé zhī zài mǔ fù zhōng shí, qí mǔ yǒu suǒ dà jīng, qì shàng ér bù xià, jīng qì bìng jū, gù lìng zǐ fā wéi diān jí yě.
The Emperor asks: a person born already ill with peak illness — what is the illness named, and how was it got? Qi Bo answers: the illness is named womb illness. It was got while the child was in the mother’s belly: the mother had some great fright, so that the qi rose and did not descend and the essence qi stayed gathered together; thus the child is made to develop peak illness.
**「病名爲胎病」——**「胎」讀 tāi、**本篇惟此一見**；「母」讀 mǔ、**本篇2見**；**「其母有所大驚，氣上而不下，精氣并居」三句，為胎病之因**。

Compounds built on this term

胎病
tāi bìng
womb illness
本篇之病名
大驚
dà jīng
a great fright
胎病之因
精氣并居
jīng qì bìng jū
essence qi staying gathered together
言其聚而不散
母腹
mǔ fù
the mother's belly
得病之時與地

How it has been translated

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

This sitewomb illness胎 is kept as the womb, so the name carries the chapter's own answer about when
Unschuldwomb illnesshe keeps the same rendering for 胎
Wisemanfoetal diseasehis system reads 胎 as the foetus rather than the womb

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09-30

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Reading path

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