Chinese Medicine Terms: A Bilingual Beginner's Glossary
This page gathers about twenty common Chinese-medicine terms in one place. For each one it gives the characters, the pinyin, the English this site uses, a short plain-language note, a mistranslation warning, and a pointer to a fuller article. It is a starting point rather than a complete dictionary, letting a reader who knows no Chinese recognise a term, pronounce it roughly, and understand which English word it is — and is not — equal to.
How to use this glossary
Every entry has the same six parts: the Chinese characters (traditional, and where it matters simplified); the pinyin with tone marks; the preferred English used site-wide; a one- or two-sentence note; a mistranslation alert; and a read more pointer. The read-more pointers lead to related articles in this collection.
Two notes before you start. Pinyin is a romanisation system; tone marks help readers pronounce Mandarin words. English writing often omits the marks: qi can refer to the same word as qì, although the unmarked spelling does not specify its tone. Library of Congress cataloguing, for example, follows pinyin principles without indicating tone marks [S18]. Older books used Wade–Giles, so an old text may spell a term ch'i [S17]. Also, several entries below are book titles or a whole system, not single objects, and are here because beginners meet them early.
Core concepts
氣 / 气 qì — preferred English: qi. A core word whose meaning shifts with context: ordinary Chinese uses it for weather, air, gas or temper; traditional writing, for the activity and "stuff" of living bodies and the world. Mistranslation alert: "energy" is understandable but incomplete, because it suggests a measurable scientific quantity. Read more: Article #02. Source: [S12].
陰陽 / 阴阳 yīnyáng — preferred English: yin and yang. A relational pair: two qualities that define each other inside a stated comparison, such as day and night. Mistranslation alert: it is not a scale of bad and good, and not two substances inside a person. Read more: Article #03.
五行 wǔxíng — preferred English: five phases (also seen as "five elements"). Five interrelated process-phases — wood, fire, earth, metal, water — used to describe how things relate and change. Mistranslation alert: "elements" can be confused with the chemical elements, which name fixed substances; xíng is closer to "process and change" [S6]. Read more: Article #04. Source: [S6].
上火 shànghuǒ — preferred English: shang huo (no single English word; "internal heat" is a rough gloss). A term used in traditional health descriptions; it can also mean "to get angry" in ordinary speech [S7]. Mistranslation alert: it does not equal one specific disease, and the English phrase "internal heat" is only a shorthand. Read more: Article #06. Source: [S7].
The body and its pathways
經絡 / 经络 jīngluò — preferred English: meridians (fuller: channels and collaterals). In traditional texts, pathways along which activity and blood are described as moving. Mistranslation alert: a dictionary definition records traditional vocabulary; it does not establish a modern anatomical structure [S8]. Read more: Article #05. Source: [S8].
穴位 xuéwèi — preferred English: acupoint. A point on the body described in traditional texts as a location for treatment. Mistranslation alert: a named point in a traditional system is not, by its name alone, a claim about a distinct anatomical structure. Read more: Article #16.
寒 / 熱 hán / rè — preferred English: cold / hot (properties). A traditional classification of foods, herbs and states into cool or warm "natures". Mistranslation alert: these properties are not actual temperature — a "warming" dish can be served cold. Read more: Article #07.
Methods and tools
針灸 / 针灸 zhēnjiǔ — preferred English: acupuncture and moxibustion. The combined name for two methods: needling (針刺 zhēncì) and the burning of moxa. Mistranslation alert: "acupuncture" alone usually means needling only, so it is not a full translation of zhēnjiǔ [S11]. Read more: Article #16. Source: [S11].
艾灸 àijiǔ — preferred English: moxibustion. A practice using burning moxa made from dried mugwort leaves (艾葉 àiyè) [S5]. Mistranslation alert: it is a warming treatment, not a synonym for acupuncture. This page gives no home instructions and no safety steps. Read more: Article #15. Source: [S5].
刮痧 guāshā — preferred English: gua sha. A scraping method in which a smooth tool is drawn across the skin. Mistranslation alert: the historical body-scraping context and today's facial beauty use are different settings. Read more: Article #13.
拔罐 báguàn — preferred English: cupping. A method using cups to create suction on the skin. Mistranslation alert: do not present a single origin — similar negative-pressure practices appear in several cultures [S10]. Read more: Article #14. Source: [S10].
耳穴 ěrxué — preferred English: ear points / auricular points. Named locations in auricular therapy. Mistranslation alert: an ear point is a location; an “ear seed” is a material used to stimulate a point. These are not interchangeable terms. A review describes seeds among several methods of ear stimulation [S16]. This glossary gives no placement instructions. Read more: Ear seeds in context. Source: [S16].
推拿 tuīná — preferred English: tuina. A Chinese term for manual bodywork or massage [S9]. Mistranslation alert: the word alone does not specify which techniques are used or establish their effectiveness. Read more: Article #16. Source: [S9].
氣功 / 气功 qìgōng — preferred English: qigong. An umbrella name for practices involving attention, breathing, movement and posture [S19]. Mistranslation alert: the umbrella covers many different practices, so one English gloss cannot stand for all of them. Read more: Article #09.
Materia medica and classics
中藥 / 中药 zhōngyào — preferred English: Chinese herbal medicine. A broad term for medicinal materials and preparations in the tradition; historical materia medica can include animal and mineral materials as well as plants [S2]. Mistranslation alert: it is not a single herb, nor a synonym for "natural" or "safe". Read more: Article #32.
本草 běncǎo — preferred English: materia medica. A genre of medical literature about drugs — the texts, not the substances themselves. Mistranslation alert: "materia medica" names a body of writing, so it should not be read as a shopping list. Read more: Article #11.
黃帝內經 / 黄帝内经 Huángdì Nèijīng — preferred English: Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. A foundational medical text, traditionally attributed to the Yellow Emperor. Mistranslation alert: it is not the work of one person or one time; the date of a particular surviving edition should be distinguished from the history of the work [S3]. Read more: Article #10. Source: [S3].
本草綱目 / 本草纲目 Běncǎo Gāngmù — preferred English: Compendium of Materia Medica. The Ming-dynasty drug encyclopaedia by Li Shizhen (李時珍, 1518–1593): with a first draft completed in 1578 [S2]. Mistranslation alert: a historical record is not guidance for taking anything today. Read more: Article #11. Source: [S2].
中醫 / 中医 zhōngyī — preferred English: Chinese medicine / TCM. The name of the whole system; "TCM" (traditional Chinese medicine) is the modern English abbreviation. Mistranslation alert: zhōngyī names a system, not a single method. Read more: Article #09.
古典中醫 — preferred English: classical Chinese medicine (CCM). A name used by some for the older, text-centred tradition, contrasted with modern TCM. Mistranslation alert: the two names overlap and their boundaries are debated, so neither is a hard dividing line. Read more: Article #09.
Food and calendar
粥 zhōu — preferred English: congee / rice porridge. A grain porridge, often made with rice but also with other grains [S15]. Mistranslation alert: it is a food, not a treatment; this page does not extend it into health claims. Read more: Article #18. Source: [S15].
節氣 / 节气 jiéqì — preferred English: solar terms. The twenty-four divisions of the sun's annual motion used in the traditional calendar; the system was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List in 2016 [S1]. Mistranslation alert: it is a calendar and cultural framework, not a set of season-by-season health prescriptions. Read more: Article #22. Source: [S1].
Why some translations go wrong
Most of the warnings above share one cause: an English word that sounds exact is borrowed for a Chinese term that is not exact.
- "Energy" for 气. Energy is a measurable quantity in physics; traditional writing does not use qì that way, so the word can add a scientific authority the text was not claiming [S12].
- "Elements" for 五行. The word suggests fixed substances, like the Greek four elements, whereas xíng is closer to "phases" [S6].
- "Meridians" for 經絡. The term names channels and collaterals in traditional vocabulary. A lexical definition is not an anatomical finding [S8].
- "Acupuncture" for 針灸. It covers only needling, while the Chinese word joins needling and moxibustion [S11].
The pattern is simple: keep the original term, and treat the English gloss as a helper with limits.
Traditional vocabulary and modern evidence
A glossary is about words, and words in this tradition describe how a system organised its observations. That is a different kind of statement from a research result. A term such as qì or hán/rè being in common use does not mean a matching physical quantity has been measured, nor does it say whether any practice works. This page answers neither half; the article on traditional use and scientific evidence works through them (see Related reading, #23).
What this page does not do
This page defines terms. It does not diagnose anyone, describe any treatment, give doses, show point or symptom charts, or tell you what a term means for your body. It is a vocabulary and culture reference, not medical advice. Decisions about care belong with a qualified practitioner and your own circumstances, not with a glossary.
Sources
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[S1] UNESCO, Twenty-Four Solar Terms, cultural-heritage listing.
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[S2] UNESCO Memory of the World nomination, Ben Cao Gang Mu, section 1, for Li Shizhen, the 1578 draft and plant, animal and mineral materials. The glossary does not assign a first-printing year.
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[S3] UNESCO, Huang Di Nei Jing, including the registered 1339 woodblock edition. This is a bibliographic reference, not evidence of clinical effectiveness.
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[S5] UNESCO, Acupuncture and moxibustion, for moxa made from dried mugwort leaves. Species and etymology are not asserted in this entry.
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[S6] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy, on wuxing and process-based categories.
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[S7] Zdic dictionary, 上火, for the traditional-health and everyday anger senses. Dictionary health wording describes usage and is not a diagnosis.
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[S8] Zdic dictionary, 经络, for the traditional channel and collateral terminology. It is used here as a lexical source only.
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[S9] Zdic dictionary, 推拿, for the manual-bodywork/massage sense. No effectiveness claim is inferred.
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[S10] NCCIH, Cupping, for suction using cups and practice in multiple regions, including China and the Middle East.
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[S11] Zdic dictionary, 针灸, for the combined name acupuncture and moxibustion.
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[S12] Taiwan Ministry of Education dictionary, 氣, for everyday senses; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, for philosophical context and translation.
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[S15] Taiwan Ministry of Education dictionary, 粥, for grain porridge and the reading zhōu.
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[S16] Hou et al., The History, Mechanism, and Clinical Application of Auricular Therapy in Traditional Chinese Medicine, section 1, describing seeds among methods of auricular stimulation. This review is used for terminology, not as proof of effectiveness.
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[S19] NCCIH, Qigong: What You Need To Know, introductory description of attention, breath, movement and posture.
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[S17] Library of Congress, Chinese Romanization Table (2012), introductory rules on pinyin and the older Wade–Giles system.
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[S18] Library of Congress, Chinese Romanization Table (2012), Rules of Application, section 1, on pinyin-based cataloguing without tone marks.