Classica Sinica Medica

陰絡 简体 阴络

yīn luò

Yin network vessel · yin luo

Also rendered: Yin network vessel (this site; the deep network vessel, which keeps the colour of its conduit) · Deep collateral (the plain modern description of the same division)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-02

At a glance

Pinyin
yīn luò
Simplified
阴络
Literal
陰 yīn — the shaded side: 《說文》 gives it as 陰，闇也；水之南，山之北也, the north bank of a river and the shadowed slope of a hill, and the sense the medicine takes from it is the same — what turns away from the sun, lies inside, lies deep. 絡 luò — network: 《說文》 takes it from silk, 絡，絮也, the floss one draws out and lays across, and the vessels that bind and branch from the channels are named from that crossing. Put together the word is not another kind of vessel but the network vessel in one of its two places, and Chapter 57 is the chapter that splits them: 陰絡之色應其經，陽絡之色變無常. Zhang Jiebin says what the split rests on — 深而在内者是为阴络，阴络近经，色则应之 — the deep ones are the yin networks, they lie close to their conduit, and so their colour answers to it.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：「陰，闇也；水之南，山之北也」；「絡，絮也，一曰麻未漚也」。「陰」讀 yīn、**本篇2見**；「絡」讀 luò、**本篇5見**；「之」讀 zhī、**本篇8見**；「色」讀 sè、**本篇8見**；「應」讀 yìng、**「應其經」之應讀 yìng，本篇3見**；「其」讀 qí、**本篇5見**；「經」讀 jīng、**本篇5見**；「脉」讀 mài、**「絡脉」之脉本篇2見**；「心」讀 xīn、「肺」讀 fèi、「肝」讀 gān、「脾」讀 pí、「腎」讀 shèn、**五藏之名各1見**；「赤」讀 chì、**本篇3見**；「白」讀 bái、**本篇2見**；「青」讀 qīng、**本篇3見**；「黄」讀 huáng、**本篇4見**；「黑」讀 hēi、**本篇3見**；「皆」讀 jiē、**本篇2見**；「亦」讀 yì、**本篇2見**；「也」讀 yě、**本篇5見**；「常」讀 cháng、**「常色」讀 cháng sè，本篇5見**；「病」讀 bìng、**本篇1見**；「謂」讀 wèi、**本篇2見**；「無」讀 wú、**本篇3見**；「乎」讀 hū、**本篇1見**

In brief

The network vessels that lie deep, and therefore keep the colour of the conduit they belong to. Chapter 57 is the only place in the Suwen where the pair is made explicit: the yin networks answer to their conduit, so the conduit of the heart shows red, the lung white, the liver blue-green, the spleen yellow, the kidney black, and that is what a constant colour means. Zhang Jiebin gives the reason — 阴络近经，色则应之, the yin network lies near the conduit, so its colour answers to it — while the yang networks lie shallow and float on the surface, and those change with the four seasons. The distinction is not anatomy but method: one colour can be read against the viscus, the other has to be read against the season. 陰絡 occurs once in the book, in this sentence.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 陰絡
陰者闇也、水南山北（《說文》）；絡者絮也，引申為網絡
陰絡之色應其經 — Suwen 57
2
Deep, not shallow 陰絡之色應其經
深而在內者為陰絡：張介賓「深而在内者，是为阴络，阴络近经，色则应之」
陰絡之色應其經 — Suwen 57
3
Why it keeps the conduit's colour 皆亦應其經脉之色也
五藏之色各具：心赤、肺白、肝青、脾黄、腎黑，絡近經故色從之
心赤，肺白，肝青，脾黄，腎黑 — Suwen 57
4
Set against the yang networks 陽絡之色變無常
陰絡近經而色有常，陽絡浮顯而隨四時以為進退
陽絡之色變無常 — Suwen 57
5
The question that brings the pair out 絡之陰陽，亦應其經乎
本篇設問之辭：絡分陰陽，是否皆應其經；陰絡應，陽絡不應
絡之陰陽，亦應其經乎 — Suwen 57
6
What follows from it 此皆常色，謂之無病
色與經應者為常色，常色之外，五色具見乃謂之寒熱
此皆常色，謂之無病 — Suwen 57

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
Suwen 57 Suwen 57 · 經絡論 Read in context →
帝曰：絡之陰陽，亦應其經乎？歧伯曰：陰絡之色應其經，陽絡之色變無常，隨四時而行也。 帝曰：络之阴阳，亦应其经乎？歧伯曰：阴络之色应其经，阳络之色变无常，随四时而行也。
Dì yuē: luò zhī yīn yáng, yì yìng qí jīng hū? Qí bó yuē: yīn luò zhī sè yìng qí jīng, yáng luò zhī sè biàn wú cháng, suí sì shí ér xíng yě.
The Emperor says: do the yin and yang of the network vessels answer to their conduits as well? Qi Bo says: the colour of the yin networks answers to their conduit; the colour of the yang networks changes without constancy, running with the four seasons.
**「陰絡」本篇1見——「陰」讀 yīn、**本篇「陰」2見**；「絡」讀 luò、**本篇「絡」5見**；「應」讀 yìng、**「應其經」之應讀 yìng，本篇3見**；「變」讀 biàn、**「變無常」之變讀 biàn**；「無」讀 wú、**本篇3見**；「行」讀 xíng、**「隨四時而行」之行讀 xíng**；**與之對文者為「陽絡」，二字並見於同一句，本篇各一見**
素問·水熱穴論 Suwen 61 · 水熱穴論 Read in context →
凡五十七穴者，皆藏之陰絡，水之所客也。 凡五十七穴者，皆藏之阴络，水之所客也。
Fán wǔ shí qī xué zhě, jiē zàng zhī yīn luò, shuǐ zhī suǒ kè yě.
All fifty-seven of these points are the yin network vessels of the depots: they are where water lodges.
「皆藏之「陰」讀 yīn「絡」讀 luò」——**「陰絡」本篇1見**；**承第五十七篇之義：陰絡之色應其經；本篇言五十七穴皆藏之陰絡、水之所客**；**「絡」讀 luò**

Compounds built on this term

陰絡
yīn luò
the yin network vessel
本篇一見（陰絡之色應其經）
絡之陰陽
luò zhī yīn yáng
the yin and yang of the network vessels
本篇一見
應其經
yìng qí jīng
answering to its conduit
「應」讀 yìng，本篇三見
常色
cháng sè
the constant colour
本篇二見

How it has been translated

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

This siteyin network vessel絡 luò is network vessel throughout the site; yin here means deep rather than a quality of the vessel itself
Modern acupuncturedeep collateral · 陰絡usually discussed as part of the three-level scheme of collaterals rather than as a pair with the yang networks
Literalshaded networkkeeping 陰 in its 《說文》 sense, though the medicine means depth and interiority rather than shade

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-02

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