Glomus

A localized subjective feeling of fullness and blockage. In the chest (glomus in the chest), it can be associated with a feeling of oppression in severe cases; hence the terms fullness in the chest, distension in the chest, glomus in the chest, and oppression in the chest are largely synonymous. In the abdomen, glomus is the sensation of a lump that cannot be detected by palpation. Hard glomus below the heart, which can be subjectively felt and objectively palpated, is a sign of evil heat with water collecting in the stomach. Any palpable abdominal mass is referred to as glomus lump, although in texts predating On Cold Damage (伤寒论 shāng hán lùn), these were referred to as glomus. glomus lump in traditional literature are labeled differently, according to shape, behavior, and pathomechanism; see concretions, conglomerations, accumulations, and gatherings; deep-lying beam; strings and aggregations; inquiry; palpation.

Etymology

Chin The character 痞 pǐ is made up of the illness signifier with the character 否, which when pronounced pǐ means blocked. Earlier dictionaries such as Explanation of Characters (说文解字 shuō wén) say it means pain. Eng from Latin glomus, a ball-shaped mass; pl. glomi.