Naming Convention in Chinese Herbs (10)

NAMING CONVENTION in Chinese Herbs
Since Chinese herbs were discovered and documented in China through many centuries, they naturally have Chinese names given to them. Alphabetical names were added later when other cultures became interested in this knowledge.

Foreigners who can't read Chinese normally learn Chinese herbs using the Pinyin name. It's an alphabetical name that mimics the Chinese pronunciation. There are also two other kinds of name: biological name expressed in Latin, and a common name adopted by the public. For example:
Chinese name: 枸 杞 子
Pinyin name: Gou Qi Zi
Biological name: Fructus Lycium
Common name: Wolfberry fruit

Only the Chinese name gives you a variety of meanings about an herb because each character in the name denotes something. For example:
紫 蘇 葉 Zi Su Ye
Zi means purple color. Su is keyword. Ye means leave.
酸 棗 仁 Suan Zao Ren
Suan means sour taste. Zao is keyword. Ren means seed.

When you learn each Chinese herb using either the Chinese or the Pinyin name, try to find the keyword like I've just shown you. The keyword uniquely identifies the herb. The rest of the name is just a qualifier.

→ Chinese herb names can tell you many things if you pay attention. In most cases, they tell you which part of the plant the herbs come from:
Root: Lu Gen 盧 根 Lu is keyword. Gen means root
Flower: Hong Hua 紅 花 Hong is keyword (also means red). Hua means flower
Seed: Tao Ren 桃 仁 Tao is keyword. Ren means seed
Fruit: Nu Zhen Zi 女 貞 子 Nu Zhen is keyword. Zi means fruit
Bark: Di Gu Pi 地 骨 皮 Di Gu is keyword. Pi means bark
Leave: Pi Pa Ye 枇 杷 葉 Pi Pa is keyword. Ye means leave
Branch: Gui Zhi 桂 枝 Gui is keyword. Zhi means branch
Grass: Jin Qian Cao 金 錢 草 Jin Qian is keyword. Cao means grass

→ Many herb names tell you the colors:
White: Bai Shao 白 芍 Bai means white. Shao is keyword
Yellow: Huang Bai 黃 柏 Huang means yellow. Bai is keyword
Dark red: Chi Shao 赤 芍 Chi means dark red. Shao is keyword
Purple: Zi Su Ye 紫 蘇 葉 Zi means purple. Su is keyword. Ye means leave
Red: Hong Hua 紅 花 Hong means red and also keyword. Hua means flower.
Black: Hei Zao 黑 棗 Hei means black. Zao is keyword.

→ Some names tell you where the herbs are grown:
Ji lin Shen 吉 林 參: grown in Ji lin Province
Chuan Bei Mu 川 貝 母: grown in Si Chuan Province
Zhe Bei Mu 浙 貝 母: grown in Zhe Jiang Province.

→ Many herbs have interesting names (subject to different interpretations):
Dang Gui 當 歸
Dang means certainly. Gui means come home. This probably means that the herb must work.

Che Qian Cao 車 前 草
Che means carriage. Qian means in front. Cao means grass. This probably tells you the usual location to find this herb.

Wang Bu Liu Xing 王 不 留 行
Wang means king. Bu means no. Liu means make stay. Xing means go. This in fact means good for blood circulation.

→ The overwhelming majority of Chinese herbs are vegetarian. You should seldom see non-vegetarian herbs being prescribed by a mainstream herbalist. Many non-vegetarian herbs are illegal nowadays such as rhino horn and tiger bones. Some examples of non-vegetarian herbs are:
Hai Ma 海 馬 Sea horse
Chan Yi 蟬衣 Cicada skin
Mu Li 牡蠣 Oyster shell

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[897523589734]

Why are you in the dark?!

[askjohnfung]

I assume you refer to the lighting, not my mind.

Well, you can see that I am not a good screen artist. I do all the video production myself. I can never get a good handle on the best lighting.

[Ihateyoucritic666]

askjohnfung where can I buy chinese herbs, yi zhi ren and shan zhu yu

[missamelie17]

cool...Thank you :)

[lmilfont]

Great information.

[chaihu]

Thankyou, Dr. John. Your explanations and pictures of herbs have rekindled my interest in chinese medicine. Glad you are sharing these lessons with all of us.