{"history":[],"article":{"id":"3d4a9973-b985-42fa-befb-b683719af622","title":"Yin and yang","slug":"yin-and-yang","content":":::summary\n**Collapse:** no \n**Pic:** Yin and Yang symbol.svg \n**Piccap:** A [taijitu](https://bliptext.com/articles/taijitu) of a particular style that is often named a \"yin and yang symbol\", the black area representing yin, with the opposite white side representing yang. The dots are representative of one within the other. \n**Picupright:** 0.66 \n**P:** yīnyáng \n**Gr:** inyang \n**J:** jam1 joeng4 \n**Y:** yām yèuhng \n**Poj:** im-iông \n**Tl:** im-iông \n**Mc:** 'im-yang \n**Oc -b 9 2:** *ʔrjum ljang \n**Oc -bs:** *q(r)um lang \n**Hangul:** 음양 \n**Hanja:** 陰陽 \n**Rr:** eumyang \n**Mr:** ŭmyang \n**Qn:** âm dương \n**Chuhan:** 陰陽 \n**Mon:** арга билэг / арга билиг \n**Mong:** ᠡ‍ᠠ‍ᠷᠭ᠎᠎ᠠ ᠪᠢᠯᠡᠭ · ᠠᠷᠭ᠎ᠠ ᠪᠢᠯᠢᠭ \n**Kanji:** 陰陽 \n**Hiragana:** いんよう · おんよう · おんみょう \n**Revhep:** in'yō · on'yō · onmyō \n**Tp:** yin-yáng \n**Bpmf:** ㄧㄣㄧㄤˊ \n**Katakana:** インヨウ · オンヨウ · オンミョウ \n**Kunrei:** in'you · on'you · onmyou \n:::\n\n# \n**Yin and yang**, also **yinyang** or **yin-yang**, is a concept that originated in [Chinese philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-philosophy), describing an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle.\nYin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are important for cohesion of the whole.\nIn [Chinese cosmology](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-cosmology), the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, form and matter.\n'Yin' is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while 'yang' is repelling, active and expansive in principle, this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference, such as biological and seasonal cycles, evolution of the landscape over days, weeks, years and eons (with the original meaning of the words being the north-facing shade and the south-facing brightness of a hill), gender (female and male), as well as the formation of the character of individuals and the grand arc of sociopolitical history in disorder and order.\n[Taiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy) is a Chinese cosmological term for the \"Supreme Ultimate\" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate.\nIt can be contrasted with the older [wuji](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuji-philosophy).\nIn the cosmology pertaining to yin and yang, the material energy which this universe was created from is known as [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi).\nIt is believed that the organization of qi in this cosmology of yin and yang has formed the 10 thousand things.\nIncluded among these forms are humans.\nMany natural [dualities](https://bliptext.com/articles/dualistic-cosmology) (such as [light and dark](https://bliptext.com/articles/light-and-dark), fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang.\nThis duality, as a [unity of opposites](https://bliptext.com/articles/unity-of-opposite), lies at the origins of many branches of classical [Chinese science](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-science-and-[technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/science-and-technology-in-china)-in-china), [technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/science-and-technology-in-china) and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of [traditional Chinese medicine](https://bliptext.com/articles/traditional-chinese-medicine), and a central principle of different forms of [Chinese martial arts](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) and exercise, such as [baguazhang](https://bliptext.com/articles/baguazhang), [tai chi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-chi), [daoyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/daoyin), [kung fu](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) and [qigong](https://bliptext.com/articles/qigong), as well as appearing in the pages of the [I Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-ching) and the famous Taoist medical treatise called the [Huangdi Neijing](https://bliptext.com/articles/huangdi-neijing)\nThe notion of duality can be found in many areas, such as [Communities of Practice](https://bliptext.com/articles/duality-cops).\nThe term \"dualistic-monism\" or [dialectical monism](https://bliptext.com/articles/dialectical-monism) has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful [paradox](https://bliptext.com/articles/paradox) of simultaneous unity and duality.\nAccording to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light).\nEither of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation.\nThe yin and yang symbol (or [taijitu](https://bliptext.com/articles/taijitu)) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.\nIn [Taoist](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoism) metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other [dichotomous](https://bliptext.com/articles/dichotomy) moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole.\nIn the ethics of [Confucianism](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucianism) on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of [Dong Zhongshu](https://bliptext.com/articles/dong-zhongshu) (c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang.\nThe [Ahom philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/ahom-religion) of [duality](https://bliptext.com/articles/dualism-philosophy-of-mind) of the individual self han and pu is quite similar to yin and yang of Taoism.\nThe tradition was originated in [Yunnan](https://bliptext.com/articles/yunnan), [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china) and followed by some [Ahom](https://bliptext.com/articles/ahom-people), descendants of [Dai ethnic Minority](https://bliptext.com/articles/dai-people).\n\n# Linguistic aspects\nThe [Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-language) terms and have a rich history in the language, their [etymologies](https://bliptext.com/articles/etymologies) and evolution analyzable through lenses of [orthography](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography), [phonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/phonology), and [meanings](https://bliptext.com/articles/meaning-linguistics).\n\n## Characters\nThe [Chinese characters](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-characters) and are both considered to be [phono-semantic compounds](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character-classification), with semantic component ['mound', 'hill'](https://bliptext.com/articles/radical-170), a graphical variant of —with the phonetic components (and the added semantic component ) and.\nIn the latter, features + +.\n# [in seal script (top), as well as traditional (middle) and simplified (bottom) character forms | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Yin///yang///%28Chinese///characters%29.svg]\n\n## Pronunciations and etymologies\nThe [Standard Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-chinese) pronunciation of is usually the level first [tone](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-tones) as with the meaning, or sometimes with the falling fourth [tone](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-tones) as with the distinct meaning.\nis always pronounced with the rising second tone as.\nSinologists and historical linguists have reconstructed [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) pronunciations from data in the (7th century CE) [Qieyun](https://bliptext.com/articles/qieyun) [rhyme dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhyme-dictionary) and later [rhyme tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhyme-tables), which was subsequently used to reconstruct [Old Chinese phonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-chinese-phonology) from rhymes in the (11th–7th centuries BCE) [Shijing](https://bliptext.com/articles/shijing) and phonological components of Chinese characters.\n[Reconstructions of Old Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/reconstructions-of-old-chinese) have illuminated the etymology of modern Chinese words.\nCompare these Middle Chinese and Old Chinese reconstructions of and :\nSchuessler gives probable [Sino-Tibetan](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-tibetan-languages) etymologies for both Chinese words.\n< compares with [Burmese](https://bliptext.com/articles/burmese-language) 'overcast', 'cloudy', [Adi](https://bliptext.com/articles/adi-language) 'shade', and [Lepcha](https://bliptext.com/articles/lepcha-language) 'shade'; it is probably cognate with Chinese < and <.\n< compares with Lepcha a-lóŋ 'reflecting light', Burmese laŋB 'be bright' and ə-laŋB 'light'; and is perhaps cognate with Chinese < (compare [areal](https://bliptext.com/articles/mainland-southeast-asia-linguistic-area) words like [Tai](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-languages) plaŋA1 'bright' & Proto-[Viet-Muong](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietic-languages) hlaŋB).\nTo this word-family, Unger also includes < 'bright'; however Schuessler reconstructs 's Old Chinese pronunciation as and includes it in an [Austroasiatic](https://bliptext.com/articles/austroasiatic-languages) word family, besides < < 'twilight of dawn'; < 'bright', 'become light', 'enlighten'; owing to \"the different OC initial consonant which seems to have no recognizable OC morphological function\".\n\n## Meanings\nYin and yang are semantically complex words.\n[John DeFrancis](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-defrancis)'s [ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/abc-chinese-english-comprehensive-dictionary) gives the following translation equivalents.\n\"Yin or —Noun: ① [philosophy] female/passive/negative principle in nature, ② Surname; Bound morpheme: ① the moon, ② shaded orientation, ③ covert; concealed; hidden, ④ vagina, ⑤ penis, ⑥ of the netherworld, ⑦ negative, ⑧ north side of a hill, ⑨ south bank of a river, ⑩ reverse side of a stele, ⑪ in intaglio; Stative verb: ① overcast, ② sinister; treacherous\"\n\"Yang or —Bound morpheme: ① [Chinese philosophy] male/active/positive principle in nature, ② the sun, ③ male genitals, ④ in relief, ⑤ open; overt, ⑥ belonging to this world, ⑦ [linguistics] masculine, ⑧ south side of a hill, ⑨ north bank of a river\"\nThe [compound](https://bliptext.com/articles/compound-linguistics) yinyang 陰陽 means \"yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc.\"\nThe [sinologist](https://bliptext.com/articles/sinology) [Rolf Stein](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolf-stein) etymologically translates Chinese yin 陰 \"shady side (of a mountain)\" and yang 陽 \"sunny side (of a mountain)\" with the uncommon English geographic terms [ubac](https://bliptext.com/articles/ubac) \"shady side of a mountain\" and [adret](https://bliptext.com/articles/adret) \"sunny side of a mountain\" (which are of [French origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-french-origin)).\n\n## Toponymy\nMany Chinese place names or [toponyms](https://bliptext.com/articles/toponyms) contain the word yang \"sunny side\" and a few contain yin \"shady side\".\nIn [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china), as elsewhere in the [Northern Hemisphere](https://bliptext.com/articles/northern-hemisphere), sunlight comes predominantly from the south, and thus the south face of a mountain or the north bank of a river will receive more direct sunlight than the opposite side.\nYang refers to the \"south side of a hill\" in [Hengyang](https://bliptext.com/articles/hengyang) 衡陽, which is south of [Mount Heng](https://bliptext.com/articles/mount-heng-hunan) 衡山 in [Hunan](https://bliptext.com/articles/hunan) province, and to the \"north bank of a river\" in [Luoyang](https://bliptext.com/articles/luoyang) 洛陽, which is located north of the [Luo River](https://bliptext.com/articles/luo-river-henan) 洛河 in [Henan](https://bliptext.com/articles/henan).\nSimilarly, yin refers to \"north side of a hill\" in [Huayin](https://bliptext.com/articles/huayin) 華陰, which is north of [Mount Hua](https://bliptext.com/articles/mount-hua) 華山 in [Shaanxi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shaanxi) province.\nIn [Japan](https://bliptext.com/articles/japan), the characters are used in western [Honshu](https://bliptext.com/articles/honshu) to delineate the north-side [San'in region](https://bliptext.com/articles/san-in-region) 山陰 from the south-side [San'yō region](https://bliptext.com/articles/san-y-region) 山陽, separated by the [Chūgoku Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-goku-mountains) 中国山地.\n\n## Loanwords\nEnglish [yin](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin), [yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yang), and [yin](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin)-[yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yang) are familiar [loanwords](https://bliptext.com/articles/loanwords) of [Chinese origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-chinese-origin).\nThe [Oxford English Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-english-dictionary) defines:\n**yin** (jɪn) Also **Yin**, **Yn**.\n[Chinese yīn shade, feminine; the moon.]\n**a.** In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being.\nAlso attrib.\nor as adj., and transf.\nCf.\n**yang**.\n**b.** Com**b.**, as **yin-yang**, the combination or fusion of the two cosmic forces; freq.\nattrib., esp. as **yin-yang symbol**, a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang, each containing a 'seed' of the other.\n**yang** (jæŋ) Also **Yang**.\n[Chinese yáng yang, sun, positive, male genitals.]\n**a.** In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being.\nAlso attrib. or as adj. Cf.\n**yin**.\n**b.** Com**b.**: **yang-yin** = yin-yang s.v. yin **b.**\nFor the earliest recorded \"yin and yang\" usages, the OED cites 1671 for yin and yang, 1850 for yin-yang, and 1959 for yang-yin.\nIn English, yang-yin (like ying-yang) occasionally occurs as a mistake or typographical error for the Chinese loanword yin-yang—yet they are not equivalents.\nChinese does have some yangyin [collocations](https://bliptext.com/articles/collocation), such as 洋銀 (lit. \"foreign silver\") \"silver coin/dollar\", but not even the most comprehensive dictionaries (e.g., the [Hanyu Da Cidian](https://bliptext.com/articles/hanyu-da-cidian)) enter yangyin *陽陰.\nWhile yang and yin can occur together in context, yangyin is not synonymous with yinyang.\nThe linguistic term \"[irreversible binomial](https://bliptext.com/articles/siamese-twins-linguistics)\" refers to a collocation of two words A–B that cannot be idiomatically reversed as B–A, for example, English cat and mouse (not *mouse and cat) and friend or foe (not *foe or friend).\nSimilarly, the usual pattern among Chinese binomial compounds is for positive A and negative B, where the A word is dominant or privileged over B. For example, tiandi 天地 \"heaven and earth\" and nannü 男女 \"men and women\".\nYinyang meaning \"dark and light; female and male; moon and sun\", is an exception.\nScholars have proposed various explanations for why yinyang violates this pattern, including \"linguistic convenience\" (it is easier to say yinyang than yangyin), the idea that \"proto-Chinese society was matriarchal\", or perhaps, since yinyang first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was \"purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions\".\n\n# History\n[Joseph Needham](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-needham) discusses yin and yang together with [Five Elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuxing-chinese-philosophy) as part of the [School of Naturalists](https://bliptext.com/articles/school-of-naturalists).\nHe says that it would be proper to begin with yin and yang before Five Elements because the former: \"lay, as it were, at a deeper level in Nature, and were the most ultimate principles of which the ancient Chinese could conceive. But it so happens that we know a good deal more about the historical origin of the Five-Element theory than about that of the yin and the yang, and it will therefore be more convenient to deal with it first.\"\nHe then discusses [Zou Yan](https://bliptext.com/articles/zou-yan) (鄒衍; 305–240 BC) who is most associated with these theories.\nAlthough yin and yang are not mentioned in any of the surviving documents of Zou Yan, his school was known as the Yin Yang Jia (Yin and Yang School).\nNeedham concludes \"There can be very little doubt that the philosophical use of the terms began about the beginning of the 4th century, and that the passages in older texts which mention this use are interpolations made later than that time.\"\n\n# Nature\nYin and yang are a concept that originated in ancient [Chinese philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-philosophy) that describes how opposite or contrary forces may create each other by their comparison and are to be seen as actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.\nIn [Daoist](https://bliptext.com/articles/daoism) philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching) at chapter 42.\nIt becomes sensible from an initial [quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)) or emptiness ([wuji](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuji-philosophy), sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until [quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)) is reached again.\nFor instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more.\nYin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities and create and control each other.\nWhenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.\nIt is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, traditionally it is said that Yin and Yang are known by the comparison of each other, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a [mutual whole](https://bliptext.com/articles/non-wellfounded-mereology) (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top).\nA way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation.\nYet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive.\nThe interaction of the two (Heaven and Earth) gives birth to human and therefore the ten thousand things.\nYin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.\nThus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement.\nThen, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall.\nThe growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness.\nThe cycles of the seasons and of plants that progresses or entropies depending on the season.\nIn summer it seeks to procure healthier leaves, whittling (entropy) of the plant is in autumn, the degrown plants (destruction) is in winter, growth (creating) of the plant or tree during spring.\nWhere it's gaining or progressing, fully progressed occurs during summer, summer seeks stability as it seeks to keep (progress) the leaves and branches that are healthy, growth and progress reaching its end point of a cycle.\nCreation as part of yang, and destruction as part of yin, progress on one side (yang) and entropy on the other side (yin), is represented in the cycles.\n\n# Modern usage\nYin is the black side, and yang is the white side.\nOther color arrangements have included the white of yang being replaced by red.\nThe taijitu is sometimes accompanied by other shapes, such as [bagua](https://bliptext.com/articles/bagua).\nThe relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley.\nYin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the \"sunny place' or \"south slope\") is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.\nIn turn, the concepts are also applied to the human body.\nIn traditional Chinese medicine, one's health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang qualities within them.\nThe technology of yin and yang is the foundation of [critical](https://bliptext.com/articles/critical-thinking) and [deductive](https://bliptext.com/articles/deductive-reasoning) reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Taoist influenced [traditional Chinese medicine](https://bliptext.com/articles/eight-principles).\n\n## I Ching\nIn the I Ching, originally a divination manual of the [Western Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-zhou) period (c. 1000–750 BC) based on Chinese Astronomy, yin and yang are represented by broken and solid lines: yin is broken (⚋) and yang is solid (⚊).\nThese are then combined into [trigrams](https://bliptext.com/articles/ba-gua), which are more yang (e.g. ☱) or more yin (e.g. ☵) depending on the number of broken and solid lines (e.g., ☰ is fully yang, while ☷ is fully yin), and [trigrams](https://bliptext.com/articles/ba-gua) are combined into hexagrams (e.g. ䷕ and ䷟).\nThe relative positions and numbers of yin and yang lines within the trigrams determines the meaning of a trigram, and in hexagrams the upper trigram is considered yang with respect to the lower trigram, yin, which allows for complex depictions of interrelations.\n# [Symbol surrounded by trigrams | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/BatQuaiDo.svg]\n\n## Taijitu\nThe principle of yin and yang is represented by the Taijitu (literally \"Diagram of the [Supreme Ultimate](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy)\").\nThe term is commonly used to mean the simple \"divided circle\" form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles, such as the [swastika](https://bliptext.com/articles/swastika), common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.\nSimilar symbols have also appeared in other cultures, such as in [Celtic art](https://bliptext.com/articles/celtic-art) and [Roman shield markings](https://bliptext.com/articles/notitia-dignitatum).\nIn this symbol the two teardrops swirl to represent the conversion of yin to yang and yang to yin.\nThis is seen when a ball is thrown into the air with a yang velocity then converts to a yin velocity to fall back to earth.\nThe two teardrops are opposite in direction to each other to show that as one increases the other decreases.\nThe dot of the opposite field in the tear drop shows that there is always yin within yang and always yang within yin.\n# [The taijitu | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Yin///and///Yang///symbol.svg]\n\n## Tai chi\nTai chi, a form of martial art, is often described as the principles of yin and yang applied to the human body and an animal body.\n[Wu Jianquan](https://bliptext.com/articles/wu-jianquan), a famous [Chinese martial arts](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) teacher, described tai chi (Taijiquan) as follows:\n\"Various people have offered different explanations for the name Taijiquan. Some have said: – 'In terms of self-cultivation, one must train from a state of movement towards a state of stillness. Taiji comes about through the balance of yin and yang. In terms of the art of attack and defense then, in the context of the changes of full and empty, one is constantly internally latent, to not outwardly expressive, as if the yin and yang of Taiji have not yet divided apart.' Others say: 'Every movement of Taijiquan is based on circles, just like the shape of a Taijitu. Therefore, it is called Taijiquan.\"\n\n# Footnotes","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T18:19:45.360Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T18:19:45.360Z","search_vector":"'yang':3 'yin':1","search_content":" \n**Collapse:** no \n**Pic:** Yin and Yang symbol.svg \n**Piccap:** A [taijitu](https://bliptext.com/articles/taijitu) of a particular style that is often named a \"yin and yang symbol\", the black area representing yin, with the opposite white side representing yang. The dots are representative of one within the other. \n**Picupright:** 0.66 \n**P:** yīnyáng \n**Gr:** inyang \n**J:** jam1 joeng4 \n**Y:** yām yèuhng \n**Poj:** im-iông \n**Tl:** im-iông \n**Mc:** 'im-yang \n**Oc -b 9 2:** *ʔrjum ljang \n**Oc -bs:** *q(r)um lang \n**Hangul:** 음양 \n**Hanja:** 陰陽 \n**Rr:** eumyang \n**Mr:** ŭmyang \n**Qn:** âm dương \n**Chuhan:** 陰陽 \n**Mon:** арга билэг / арга билиг \n**Mong:** ᠡ‍ᠠ‍ᠷᠭ᠎᠎ᠠ ᠪᠢᠯᠡᠭ · ᠠᠷᠭ᠎ᠠ ᠪᠢᠯᠢᠭ \n**Kanji:** 陰陽 \n**Hiragana:** いんよう · おんよう · おんみょう \n**Revhep:** in'yō · on'yō · onmyō \n**Tp:** yin-yáng \n**Bpmf:** ㄧㄣㄧㄤˊ \n**Katakana:** インヨウ · オンヨウ · オンミョウ \n**Kunrei:** in'you · on'you · onmyou \n \n\n# \n**Yin and yang**, also **yinyang** or **yin-yang**, is a concept that originated in [Chinese philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-philosophy), describing an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle.\nYin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are important for cohesion of the whole.\nIn [Chinese cosmology](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-cosmology), the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, form and matter.\n'Yin' is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while 'yang' is repelling, active and expansive in principle, this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference, such as biological and seasonal cycles, evolution of the landscape over days, weeks, years and eons (with the original meaning of the words being the north-facing shade and the south-facing brightness of a hill), gender (female and male), as well as the formation of the character of individuals and the grand arc of sociopolitical history in disorder and order.\n[Taiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy) is a Chinese cosmological term for the \"Supreme Ultimate\" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate.\nIt can be contrasted with the older [wuji](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuji-philosophy).\nIn the cosmology pertaining to yin and yang, the material energy which this universe was created from is known as [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi).\nIt is believed that the organization of qi in this cosmology of yin and yang has formed the 10 thousand things.\nIncluded among these forms are humans.\nMany natural [dualities](https://bliptext.com/articles/dualistic-cosmology) (such as [light and dark](https://bliptext.com/articles/light-and-dark), fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang.\nThis duality, as a [unity of opposites](https://bliptext.com/articles/unity-of-opposite), lies at the origins of many branches of classical [Chinese science](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-science-and-[technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/science-and-technology-in-china)-in-china), [technology](https://bliptext.com/articles/science-and-technology-in-china) and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of [traditional Chinese medicine](https://bliptext.com/articles/traditional-chinese-medicine), and a central principle of different forms of [Chinese martial arts](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) and exercise, such as [baguazhang](https://bliptext.com/articles/baguazhang), [tai chi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-chi), [daoyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/daoyin), [kung fu](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) and [qigong](https://bliptext.com/articles/qigong), as well as appearing in the pages of the [I Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-ching) and the famous Taoist medical treatise called the [Huangdi Neijing](https://bliptext.com/articles/huangdi-neijing)\nThe notion of duality can be found in many areas, such as [Communities of Practice](https://bliptext.com/articles/duality-cops).\nThe term \"dualistic-monism\" or [dialectical monism](https://bliptext.com/articles/dialectical-monism) has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful [paradox](https://bliptext.com/articles/paradox) of simultaneous unity and duality.\nAccording to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light).\nEither of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation.\nThe yin and yang symbol (or [taijitu](https://bliptext.com/articles/taijitu)) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.\nIn [Taoist](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoism) metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other [dichotomous](https://bliptext.com/articles/dichotomy) moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole.\nIn the ethics of [Confucianism](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucianism) on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of [Dong Zhongshu](https://bliptext.com/articles/dong-zhongshu) (c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang.\nThe [Ahom philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/ahom-religion) of [duality](https://bliptext.com/articles/dualism-philosophy-of-mind) of the individual self han and pu is quite similar to yin and yang of Taoism.\nThe tradition was originated in [Yunnan](https://bliptext.com/articles/yunnan), [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china) and followed by some [Ahom](https://bliptext.com/articles/ahom-people), descendants of [Dai ethnic Minority](https://bliptext.com/articles/dai-people).\n\n# Linguistic aspects\nThe [Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-language) terms and have a rich history in the language, their [etymologies](https://bliptext.com/articles/etymologies) and evolution analyzable through lenses of [orthography](https://bliptext.com/articles/orthography), [phonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/phonology), and [meanings](https://bliptext.com/articles/meaning-linguistics).\n\n## Characters\nThe [Chinese characters](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-characters) and are both considered to be [phono-semantic compounds](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character-classification), with semantic component ['mound', 'hill'](https://bliptext.com/articles/radical-170), a graphical variant of —with the phonetic components (and the added semantic component ) and.\nIn the latter, features + +.\n# [in seal script (top), as well as traditional (middle) and simplified (bottom) character forms | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Yin///yang///%28Chinese///characters%29.svg]\n\n## Pronunciations and etymologies\nThe [Standard Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-chinese) pronunciation of is usually the level first [tone](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-tones) as with the meaning, or sometimes with the falling fourth [tone](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-tones) as with the distinct meaning.\nis always pronounced with the rising second tone as.\nSinologists and historical linguists have reconstructed [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) pronunciations from data in the (7th century CE) [Qieyun](https://bliptext.com/articles/qieyun) [rhyme dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhyme-dictionary) and later [rhyme tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhyme-tables), which was subsequently used to reconstruct [Old Chinese phonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-chinese-phonology) from rhymes in the (11th–7th centuries BCE) [Shijing](https://bliptext.com/articles/shijing) and phonological components of Chinese characters.\n[Reconstructions of Old Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/reconstructions-of-old-chinese) have illuminated the etymology of modern Chinese words.\nCompare these Middle Chinese and Old Chinese reconstructions of and :\nSchuessler gives probable [Sino-Tibetan](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-tibetan-languages) etymologies for both Chinese words.\n< compares with [Burmese](https://bliptext.com/articles/burmese-language) 'overcast', 'cloudy', [Adi](https://bliptext.com/articles/adi-language) 'shade', and [Lepcha](https://bliptext.com/articles/lepcha-language) 'shade'; it is probably cognate with Chinese < and <.\n< compares with Lepcha a-lóŋ 'reflecting light', Burmese laŋB 'be bright' and ə-laŋB 'light'; and is perhaps cognate with Chinese < (compare [areal](https://bliptext.com/articles/mainland-southeast-asia-linguistic-area) words like [Tai](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-languages) plaŋA1 'bright' & Proto-[Viet-Muong](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietic-languages) hlaŋB).\nTo this word-family, Unger also includes < 'bright'; however Schuessler reconstructs 's Old Chinese pronunciation as and includes it in an [Austroasiatic](https://bliptext.com/articles/austroasiatic-languages) word family, besides < < 'twilight of dawn'; < 'bright', 'become light', 'enlighten'; owing to \"the different OC initial consonant which seems to have no recognizable OC morphological function\".\n\n## Meanings\nYin and yang are semantically complex words.\n[John DeFrancis](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-defrancis)'s [ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/abc-chinese-english-comprehensive-dictionary) gives the following translation equivalents.\n\"Yin or —Noun: ① [philosophy] female/passive/negative principle in nature, ② Surname; Bound morpheme: ① the moon, ② shaded orientation, ③ covert; concealed; hidden, ④ vagina, ⑤ penis, ⑥ of the netherworld, ⑦ negative, ⑧ north side of a hill, ⑨ south bank of a river, ⑩ reverse side of a stele, ⑪ in intaglio; Stative verb: ① overcast, ② sinister; treacherous\"\n\"Yang or —Bound morpheme: ① [Chinese philosophy] male/active/positive principle in nature, ② the sun, ③ male genitals, ④ in relief, ⑤ open; overt, ⑥ belonging to this world, ⑦ [linguistics] masculine, ⑧ south side of a hill, ⑨ north bank of a river\"\nThe [compound](https://bliptext.com/articles/compound-linguistics) yinyang 陰陽 means \"yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc.\"\nThe [sinologist](https://bliptext.com/articles/sinology) [Rolf Stein](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolf-stein) etymologically translates Chinese yin 陰 \"shady side (of a mountain)\" and yang 陽 \"sunny side (of a mountain)\" with the uncommon English geographic terms [ubac](https://bliptext.com/articles/ubac) \"shady side of a mountain\" and [adret](https://bliptext.com/articles/adret) \"sunny side of a mountain\" (which are of [French origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-french-origin)).\n\n## Toponymy\nMany Chinese place names or [toponyms](https://bliptext.com/articles/toponyms) contain the word yang \"sunny side\" and a few contain yin \"shady side\".\nIn [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china), as elsewhere in the [Northern Hemisphere](https://bliptext.com/articles/northern-hemisphere), sunlight comes predominantly from the south, and thus the south face of a mountain or the north bank of a river will receive more direct sunlight than the opposite side.\nYang refers to the \"south side of a hill\" in [Hengyang](https://bliptext.com/articles/hengyang) 衡陽, which is south of [Mount Heng](https://bliptext.com/articles/mount-heng-hunan) 衡山 in [Hunan](https://bliptext.com/articles/hunan) province, and to the \"north bank of a river\" in [Luoyang](https://bliptext.com/articles/luoyang) 洛陽, which is located north of the [Luo River](https://bliptext.com/articles/luo-river-henan) 洛河 in [Henan](https://bliptext.com/articles/henan).\nSimilarly, yin refers to \"north side of a hill\" in [Huayin](https://bliptext.com/articles/huayin) 華陰, which is north of [Mount Hua](https://bliptext.com/articles/mount-hua) 華山 in [Shaanxi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shaanxi) province.\nIn [Japan](https://bliptext.com/articles/japan), the characters are used in western [Honshu](https://bliptext.com/articles/honshu) to delineate the north-side [San'in region](https://bliptext.com/articles/san-in-region) 山陰 from the south-side [San'yō region](https://bliptext.com/articles/san-y-region) 山陽, separated by the [Chūgoku Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-goku-mountains) 中国山地.\n\n## Loanwords\nEnglish [yin](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin), [yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yang), and [yin](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin)-[yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yang) are familiar [loanwords](https://bliptext.com/articles/loanwords) of [Chinese origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-chinese-origin).\nThe [Oxford English Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-english-dictionary) defines:\n**yin** (jɪn) Also **Yin**, **Yn**.\n[Chinese yīn shade, feminine; the moon.]\n**a.** In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being.\nAlso attrib.\nor as adj., and transf.\nCf.\n**yang**.\n**b.** Com**b.**, as **yin-yang**, the combination or fusion of the two cosmic forces; freq.\nattrib., esp. as **yin-yang symbol**, a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang, each containing a 'seed' of the other.\n**yang** (jæŋ) Also **Yang**.\n[Chinese yáng yang, sun, positive, male genitals.]\n**a.** In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being.\nAlso attrib. or as adj. Cf.\n**yin**.\n**b.** Com**b.**: **yang-yin** = yin-yang s.v. yin **b.**\nFor the earliest recorded \"yin and yang\" usages, the OED cites 1671 for yin and yang, 1850 for yin-yang, and 1959 for yang-yin.\nIn English, yang-yin (like ying-yang) occasionally occurs as a mistake or typographical error for the Chinese loanword yin-yang—yet they are not equivalents.\nChinese does have some yangyin [collocations](https://bliptext.com/articles/collocation), such as 洋銀 (lit. \"foreign silver\") \"silver coin/dollar\", but not even the most comprehensive dictionaries (e.g., the [Hanyu Da Cidian](https://bliptext.com/articles/hanyu-da-cidian)) enter yangyin *陽陰.\nWhile yang and yin can occur together in context, yangyin is not synonymous with yinyang.\nThe linguistic term \"[irreversible binomial](https://bliptext.com/articles/siamese-twins-linguistics)\" refers to a collocation of two words A–B that cannot be idiomatically reversed as B–A, for example, English cat and mouse (not *mouse and cat) and friend or foe (not *foe or friend).\nSimilarly, the usual pattern among Chinese binomial compounds is for positive A and negative B, where the A word is dominant or privileged over B. For example, tiandi 天地 \"heaven and earth\" and nannü 男女 \"men and women\".\nYinyang meaning \"dark and light; female and male; moon and sun\", is an exception.\nScholars have proposed various explanations for why yinyang violates this pattern, including \"linguistic convenience\" (it is easier to say yinyang than yangyin), the idea that \"proto-Chinese society was matriarchal\", or perhaps, since yinyang first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was \"purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions\".\n\n# History\n[Joseph Needham](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-needham) discusses yin and yang together with [Five Elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuxing-chinese-philosophy) as part of the [School of Naturalists](https://bliptext.com/articles/school-of-naturalists).\nHe says that it would be proper to begin with yin and yang before Five Elements because the former: \"lay, as it were, at a deeper level in Nature, and were the most ultimate principles of which the ancient Chinese could conceive. But it so happens that we know a good deal more about the historical origin of the Five-Element theory than about that of the yin and the yang, and it will therefore be more convenient to deal with it first.\"\nHe then discusses [Zou Yan](https://bliptext.com/articles/zou-yan) (鄒衍; 305–240 BC) who is most associated with these theories.\nAlthough yin and yang are not mentioned in any of the surviving documents of Zou Yan, his school was known as the Yin Yang Jia (Yin and Yang School).\nNeedham concludes \"There can be very little doubt that the philosophical use of the terms began about the beginning of the 4th century, and that the passages in older texts which mention this use are interpolations made later than that time.\"\n\n# Nature\nYin and yang are a concept that originated in ancient [Chinese philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-philosophy) that describes how opposite or contrary forces may create each other by their comparison and are to be seen as actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.\nIn [Daoist](https://bliptext.com/articles/daoism) philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching) at chapter 42.\nIt becomes sensible from an initial [[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)](https://bliptext.com/articles/[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)) or emptiness ([wuji](https://bliptext.com/articles/wuji-philosophy), sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until [[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)](https://bliptext.com/articles/[quiescence](https://bliptext.com/articles/quiescence)) is reached again.\nFor instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more.\nYin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities and create and control each other.\nWhenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.\nIt is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, traditionally it is said that Yin and Yang are known by the comparison of each other, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a [mutual whole](https://bliptext.com/articles/non-wellfounded-mereology) (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top).\nA way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation.\nYet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive.\nThe interaction of the two (Heaven and Earth) gives birth to human and therefore the ten thousand things.\nYin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.\nThus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement.\nThen, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall.\nThe growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness.\nThe cycles of the seasons and of plants that progresses or entropies depending on the season.\nIn summer it seeks to procure healthier leaves, whittling (entropy) of the plant is in autumn, the degrown plants (destruction) is in winter, growth (creating) of the plant or tree during spring.\nWhere it's gaining or progressing, fully progressed occurs during summer, summer seeks stability as it seeks to keep (progress) the leaves and branches that are healthy, growth and progress reaching its end point of a cycle.\nCreation as part of yang, and destruction as part of yin, progress on one side (yang) and entropy on the other side (yin), is represented in the cycles.\n\n# Modern usage\nYin is the black side, and yang is the white side.\nOther color arrangements have included the white of yang being replaced by red.\nThe taijitu is sometimes accompanied by other shapes, such as [bagua](https://bliptext.com/articles/bagua).\nThe relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley.\nYin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the \"sunny place' or \"south slope\") is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.\nIn turn, the concepts are also applied to the human body.\nIn traditional Chinese medicine, one's health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang qualities within them.\nThe technology of yin and yang is the foundation of [critical](https://bliptext.com/articles/critical-thinking) and [deductive](https://bliptext.com/articles/deductive-reasoning) reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Taoist influenced [traditional Chinese medicine](https://bliptext.com/articles/eight-principles).\n\n## I Ching\nIn the I Ching, originally a divination manual of the [Western Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-zhou) period (c. 1000–750 BC) based on Chinese Astronomy, yin and yang are represented by broken and solid lines: yin is broken (⚋) and yang is solid (⚊).\nThese are then combined into [trigrams](https://bliptext.com/articles/ba-gua), which are more yang (e.g. ☱) or more yin (e.g. ☵) depending on the number of broken and solid lines (e.g., ☰ is fully yang, while ☷ is fully yin), and [trigrams](https://bliptext.com/articles/ba-gua) are combined into hexagrams (e.g. ䷕ and ䷟).\nThe relative positions and numbers of yin and yang lines within the trigrams determines the meaning of a trigram, and in hexagrams the upper trigram is considered yang with respect to the lower trigram, yin, which allows for complex depictions of interrelations.\n# [Symbol surrounded by trigrams | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/BatQuaiDo.svg]\n\n## Taijitu\nThe principle of yin and yang is represented by the Taijitu (literally \"Diagram of the [Supreme Ultimate](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy)\").\nThe term is commonly used to mean the simple \"divided circle\" form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles, such as the [swastika](https://bliptext.com/articles/swastika), common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.\nSimilar symbols have also appeared in other cultures, such as in [Celtic art](https://bliptext.com/articles/celtic-art) and [Roman shield markings](https://bliptext.com/articles/notitia-dignitatum).\nIn this symbol the two teardrops swirl to represent the conversion of yin to yang and yang to yin.\nThis is seen when a ball is thrown into the air with a yang velocity then converts to a yin velocity to fall back to earth.\nThe two teardrops are opposite in direction to each other to show that as one increases the other decreases.\nThe dot of the opposite field in the tear drop shows that there is always yin within yang and always yang within yin.\n# [The taijitu | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Yin///and///Yang///symbol.svg]\n\n## Tai chi\nTai chi, a form of martial art, is often described as the principles of yin and yang applied to the human body and an animal body.\n[Wu Jianquan](https://bliptext.com/articles/wu-jianquan), a famous [Chinese martial arts](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-martial-arts) teacher, described tai chi (Taijiquan) as follows:\n\"Various people have offered different explanations for the name Taijiquan. Some have said: – 'In terms of self-cultivation, one must train from a state of movement towards a state of stillness. Taiji comes about through the balance of yin and yang. In terms of the art of attack and defense then, in the context of the changes of full and empty, one is constantly internally latent, to not outwardly expressive, as if the yin and yang of Taiji have not yet divided apart.' Others say: 'Every movement of Taijiquan is based on circles, just like the shape of a Taijitu. Therefore, it is called Taijiquan.\"\n\n# Footnotes","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}