Which terminology we use
Bencao Dian commits, across the entire site, to the terminological system established by Nigel Wiseman in the Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine (PD). This is the most rigorous, most systematic, and most academically traceable rendering of TCM into English available, and it is the house style used by the Paradigm Publications / Eastland Press school of textbooks.
Choosing one system and holding to it is, in itself, a form of editorial responsibility. There is no officially unified English standard for TCM. Wiseman, Maciocia, Eastland, and the WHO ICD-11 module all coexist in the published literature, and a single Chinese term can correspond to several different English renderings depending on which lineage of translators you read. Bencao Dian commits to Wiseman's system and applies it consistently across every entry, so that a reader who comes here for any single term gets an internally coherent bilingual reference.
This does not mean we believe Wiseman is flawless, nor that we reject other systems. The Maciocia and Bensky renderings have their own historical and clinical merits. Our commitment is only this: within this platform, terminological choices are consistent, predictable, and documented.
Why hold to one standard
In the current era of large language models, “terminological drift” is the most pervasive failure mode of free-form Chinese-medicine English: within a single paragraph, 营卫 is rendered first as “nutritive and defensive” and then as “ying and wei”; 肝郁 is “liver depression” in one sentence and “liver constraint” in the next. An LLM is a weighted average of every published translation school, and is structurally incapable of holding to a single standard.
A reference that can be trusted must be able to promise consistency. Bencao Dian's commitment to the Wiseman standard is precisely the kind of service that an LLM cannot, by its architecture, replicate — and is one of the reasons this platform exists.
Concordance (key terms)
The terms listed below are the ones where translation lineages most often diverge. The Wiseman column is what this site uses; the alternates are common renderings from other systems, included so cross-source readers can orient themselves.
Retained as pinyin. Never rendered “energy” — that mistranslation collapses the word's clinical specificity.
We use Wiseman's “pattern.” “Syndrome” imports biomedical-diagnostic baggage that does not belong in TCM nosology.
Wiseman renders this “vacuity,” closer to the original sense than the more colloquial “deficiency.”
Wiseman: “construction.” We display the pinyin “ying-qi / wei-qi” for legibility, with “construction / defense” as the gloss on first use.
Zang-fu = bowels and viscera in Wiseman's pairing. We retain the pinyin “zang-fu” inline for clarity.
Wiseman distinguishes channel (jing) from network vessel (luo). In everyday use “channel” suffices; in formal contexts we say “channels and network vessels.”
Both “channel entry” and “channel tropism” are acceptable; we prefer “channel entry” for fidelity to Wiseman.
We use sovereign / minister / assistant / courier and always show the original 君臣佐使 alongside the pinyin.
“Stasis” is reserved for blood stasis. “Stagnation” is broader and is the standard rendering for 气滞 (qi stagnation).
Liver depression (per Wiseman) — not “liver constraint,” though the latter is common in Maciocia-influenced texts.
Both “four qi” and “four natures” are within Wiseman's tolerance.
Always capitalized, to distinguish the TCM organ from the anatomical spleen — the two are not equivalent.
Always capitalized. The TCM Kidney governs reproduction, growth and development, and fluid metabolism — much broader than the anatomical organ.
Wiseman: Triple Burner. The WHO standard prefers “Triple Energizer.” We use Triple Burner per Wiseman.
Pinyin conventions
- Headings and first occurrences use tone-marked Hanyu Pinyin: e.g. Gān Cǎo.
- URLs and machine-readable citation text use unaccented pinyin: e.g.
/herbs/gan-cao. - Formula names use space-separated pinyin syllables: Sì Jūn Zǐ Tāng, Bǔ Zhōng Yì Qì Tāng.
- We do not use Tongyong Pinyin, Postal romanization, or Wade-Giles.