Chan's Chinese Column Stomach

     Stomach           Spleen

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Stomach is the paired Yang or Fu organ to the Spleen (Yin or Zang organ). Together, the Spleen and Stomach are associated with the Earth element and the emotion of worry, anxiety and stress.

Like the character for Spleen, “脾” (pí ), the character for Stomach, “胃” (wei) also contains the radical 130 “月”(rou, meat). In bronze script, the first half of the character “胃” (wei) looks like a stomach pouch above the second half of the character “月” (rou, meat).

As the character evolved, the top half is characterised by radical 102, “田” (tián), meaning rice fields or farmland. These two characters suggest that they were important components in the stomach’s function of digestion and storage of food (grain and meat). The gap separating “田” (tián, rice field) and “月” (rou, meat) convey the message that these were not mixed together or digested, which is essentially the function of the Stomach. 

    Tián, Rice field

The character “田” is a pictograph of a rice field criss-crossed with irrigation channels. The fields were traditionally ploughed and flooded to plant grains, such as rice. Rice has been and remains one of the staple grains to Chinese people all around the world.