Anthropology, Education, Sociology, and Social Phenomena

Yin-Yang

In Chinese philosophy and religion, two principles, one negative, dark, and feminine (yin) and one positive, bright, and masculine (yang), from whose interaction all things are produced and all things are dissolved. As a concept the two polar elements referred originally to the shady and sunny sides of a valley or a hill but it developed into the relationship of any contrasting pair: those specified above (female-male, etc.) as well as cold-hot, wet-dry, weak-strong, etc. It is not a distinct system of thought by itself but permeates Chinese life and thought. A balance of yin and yang is essential to health. A deficiency of either principle can manifest as disease. (Encyclopedia Americana)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

In Chinese philosophy and religion, two principles, one negative, dark, and feminine (yin) and one positive, bright, and masculine (yang), from whose interaction all things are produced and all things are dissolved. As a concept the two polar elements referred originally to the shady and sunny sides of a valley or a hill but it developed into the relationship of any contrasting pair: those specified above (female-male, etc.) as well as cold-hot, wet-dry, weak-strong, etc. It is not a distinct system of thought by itself but permeates Chinese life and thought. A balance of yin and yang is essential to health. A deficiency of either principle can manifest as disease. (Encyclopedia Americana)

MeSH Record

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Broader headings

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See Also

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Synonyms

1 entry terms
  • Yin Yang

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

1 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings history.

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Indexing Annotation

yang exuberance syndrome can go here, defic syndromes: index YIN DEFICIENCY or YANG DEFICIENCY: see notes there

MeSH Record

History Note

92

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional (1968-1991)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. I01w.076w.201w.450w.654w.558w.520w.967w
  2. K01w.752w.967w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Yin-Yang. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D016709. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D016709
  2. Yin-Yang. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
  3. Yin-Yang. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q62744