Classica Sinica Medica

員員 简体 员员

yuán yuán

Yuanyuan · spinning

Also rendered: spinning and spinning (Reproduces the reduplication; reads as a stammer in English) · vertiginous (Clinically exact but imports a modern category the text does not have)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yuán yuán
Simplified
员员
Literal
員 yuán, round; doubled, it describes a sensation: the head aches with a turning, spinning quality. The word is a reduplicative of the kind the Suwen uses for sensations that have no noun. The commentaries offer two readings — spinning and dizziness, or a distended, heavy fullness — and chapter 32 keeps both in play by using it for the liver's headache and the kidney's nape pain alike.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：員，物數也，从貝口聲——**「員」讀 yuán，本篇四見，皆疊用為「員員」**：「頭痛員員」（肝熱病氣逆）、「項痛員員」（腎熱病氣逆）各二見。**舊注二說**：一釋為眩暈旋轉之貌（員，圓也，旋轉如圓），一釋為脹滿重滯之貌。**二說並存，本篇不別白**，以肝、腎二證皆可通，故各從其義而不改字。**底本不作「员」**。「其」讀 qí；「逆」讀 nì；「則」讀 zé；「頭」讀 tóu，本篇六見；「痛」讀 tòng；「脉」讀 mài，本篇六見；「引」讀 yǐn；**「衝」讀 chōng，上衝也**；「也」讀 yě。**疊字狀病是《素問》之通例**：本站已立「冥冥」（id 826）一條，又第二十六篇「髣髴」、第二十七篇「隴起」之類，皆其比。**「員員」與下文「澹澹然」對看**：員員言其旋，澹澹言其動，二詞同狀頭目之不安而各有其狀。

In brief

A reduplicative describing a spinning, turning quality in pain — the head or the nape aches as though it were going round. Chapter 32 uses it twice, once for the liver heat disease when the qi counterflows and once for the kidney heat disease in the same circumstance, and in both cases it explains the sensation by the vessel pulling upward into the head. The commentaries read it either as spinning or as a distended heaviness; the word covers both.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The liver's counterflow headache 其逆則頭痛員員
肝熱氣逆，頭痛而旋
其逆則頭痛員員 — Suwen 32
2
Explained by the vessel 脉引衝頭也
員員之故，在脉引上衝於頭
脉引衝頭也 — Suwen 32
3
The kidney's counterflow nape pain 項痛員員澹澹然
腎熱氣逆，項痛而旋而動
項痛員員澹澹然 — Suwen 32
4
A reduplicative for a sensation 員員
疊字狀病，為《素問》通例
員員 — Suwen 32
5
Two commentarial readings 員員
一訓眩暈旋轉，一訓脹滿重滯，二說並存
員員 — Suwen 32
6
Paired with 澹澹 員員澹澹然
員員言其旋，澹澹言其動
員員澹澹然 — Suwen 32

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·剌熱 Suwen 32 · 剌熱 Read in context →
其逆則頭痛員員，脉引衝頭也。 其逆则头痛员员，脉引冲头也。
Qí nì zé tóu tòng yuán yuán, mài yǐn chōng tóu yě.
When it counterflows the head aches with a spinning sensation: the vessel pulls and surges into the head.
肝熱病氣逆之頭痛。「其」讀 qí；「逆」讀 nì，本篇九見——本篇「逆」字二義並用，此指病氣之逆，下文「重逆則死」之逆則指醫之逆治；「則」讀 zé；「頭」讀 tóu；「痛」讀 tòng；**「員」讀 yuán，本篇四見**；**「脉」讀 mài，本篇六見，無一作「脈」**；「引」讀 yǐn，**牽引也**；**「衝」讀 chōng，本篇一見**，自下而上也；「也」讀 yě。**此句釋上句「剌足厥陰、少陽」之故**：厥陰之脉上額交巔，故氣逆則循脉上衝於頭而痛員員。**下文腎熱病「其逆則項痛員員澹澹然」同例**——一頭一項，皆氣逆上衝之所致，足見本篇言「逆」必有其脉之可循。

Compounds built on this term

員員
yuán yuán
spinning
本篇四見，頭痛員員、項痛員員各二見
澹澹然
dàn dàn rán
unsteady
本篇二見，與員員同狀頭目之不安
冥冥
míng míng
the dark and obscure
本站已立目（id 826），同為疊字狀病之例
脉引衝頭
mài yǐn chōng tóu
the vessel pulls and surges into the head
本篇一見，員員之故

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng(with) dizzinessThey render the sense and drop the reduplication, which is readable but flattens the word's texture.
Unschuldthe head aches continuouslyUnschuld takes the reduplication as intensifying duration rather than describing a quality, which is a legitimate reading of the form.
This sitespinningWe keep a single present participle. The reduplication is the Chinese way of making an adjective out of a noun, and the English needs one word that says what the ache is like, not two.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

Search the glossary

Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

See all reading paths