Cold

1. The opposite of heat.

2. One of the six qì; cold weather, normally occurring in winter.

3. One of the six excesses, i.e., cold weather as a cause of disease.

4. Cold in the body causing disease and classified as cold among the eight principles. The nature of cold as an evil and its clinical manifestations are similar to those of cold in the natural environment, e.g., low temperature, deceleration of activity, and congealing. Diseases caused by cold evil result from severe or sudden exposure to cold, e.g., catching cold, excessive consumption of cold fluids, or exposure to frost. They bear the following features:

1. Generalized or local signs of cold, such as aversion to cold, desire for warmth, pronounced lack of warmth in the extremities, and cold and pain in the lower abdomen.
2. Cold, thin, clear excreta; for example, a runny nose with clear mucus, clear phlegm, watery vomitus, long voidings of clear urine, or clear watery diarrhea. Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn, zhì zhēn yào dà lùn) states, All disease with watery humors that are clear, pure, and cold are ascribed to cold. (See nineteen pathomechanisms.)
3. Tendency to develop qì stagnation and blood stasis, characterized by severe pain. It has been said, When cold prevails, there is pain.
4. Contracture and hypertonicity of the sinews, indicating invasion of the channels by the evil; hence it is said, Cold is associated with contraction and tension. Cold may arise in the body not only as a result of invasion by cold evil but also as a result of debilitation of yáng qì. This is called vacuity cold and is characterized by curled-up lying posture, long voidings of clear urine, clear-grain diarrhea, counterflow cold of the limbs, and a slow pulse. See also cold pattern.

5. adj. Of or pertaining to the quality cold.

6. Of a nature tending to reduce heat, e.g., cold medicinal, especially denoting one of the four qì (heat, cold, warmth, coolness) used to characterize medicinals.

Etymology

Chin 寒 hán is the classic word for cold; 冷 lěng has superseded 寒 in the common language, and appears in Chinese medical texts in symptom descriptions, with the connotation of overt or palpable cold.