Dryness

Also dryness qì.

1. The opposite of moisture.

2. One of the six qì; dryness as an environmental phenomenon and a potential cause of disease, associated with the autumn in China.

3. One of the six excesses; dryness as an environmental qì causing disease.

4. A state of the body resulting from contraction of dryness in the environment. Signs include dry nostrils, nosebleed, dry mouth, dry cracked lips, dry tickly or sore throat, dry cough with little or no phlegm, rough dry skin, and dry tongue with relatively little liquid. Distinction is made between cool dryness and warm dryness.

5. A state of the body arising from depletion of yīn-humor and presenting signs similar to those created by the environmental qì dryness.