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Course
疏 〔疏〕 shū
To enhance flow (of qì, especially depressed liver qì); to free (the liver, digestive tract of qì stagnation and depression); to eliminate (evils such as wind in the exterior); to free (the exterior or channels from evils such as wind). Compare soothe.
Etymology
Chinese: 疏 shū, free the course of (a river), smooth the flow; sparse; scatter, disperse. The character 疏 contains a pictorial representation of water and is used in the combination 疏浚 shū jùn, to dredge (remove sediment from the bottom of a waterway), which is a common rendering for the shū in the medical context. The character 疏 is akin to 梳 shū, to comb (i.e., to make the hair flow
smoothly.) The English word course
is chosen as the equivalent in the medical context in the sense of freeing the course of qì or freeing the course of wind (out of the body). The homophone 舒 shū, to soothe, is sometimes used as a substitute for 疏 in the term 疏肝, as in the formula name