Heavenly Stem · 7 of 10
Geng庚
/ɡʌŋ/
Geng is the seventh of the ten Heavenly Stems, and the character itself also means "age". It is yang Metal and belongs to the west. Geng has no cell of its own on the chart: it lodges on Monkey, so wherever the chart shows Monkey, read Geng.
- 甲JiaYang Wood
- 乙YiYin Wood
- 丙BingYang Fire
- 丁DingYin Fire
- 戊WuYang Earth
- 己JiYin Earth
- 庚GengYang Metal
- 辛XinYin Metal
- 壬RenYang Water
- 癸GuiYin Water
Term details
| Chinese | 庚 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | gēng |
| Standard name | Geng |
| First mention | Geng (Yang Metal 庚) |
| Order | 7 of 10 |
| Element | Metal |
|---|---|
| Yin or yang | yang |
| Lodges on | Monkey 申 of the Earth Plate |
| Patron by day | Ox 丑 |
| Patron by night | Goat 未 |
Etymology
In oracle-bone script 庚 pictures a handled farm tool that is shaken, usually taken to be a flail or threshing device. That sense dropped out of use long ago, and the character survives only as a stem.
The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty dictionary, assigns it to the west: "in autumn all things are firm and full of fruit", and adds that the character pictures the navel. In Chinese 庚 also means a person's age; to share a 庚 is to be born in the same year. Geng is seventh among the ten Heavenly Stems.
The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *kˤraŋ (Baxter and Sagart). Middle Chinese was kaeng.
Significations
- nature
- firm, severe
- matters
- obstruction, being cut off
- things
- stone, metal, the knife and the axe
- direction and time
- the west
Source text
Of the Heavenly Stems, Jia and Yi are Wood of the east, Bing and Ding Fire of the south, Wu and Ji Earth of the centre, Geng and Xin Metal of the west, Ren and Gui Water of the north. In setting up a chart, Jia lodges on Tiger, Yi on Dragon, Bing and Wu on Snake, Ding and Ji on Goat, Geng on Monkey, Xin on Dog, Ren on Pig, Gui on Ox. (Da Liu Ren Zhinan, book 1)
天干者甲乙東方木，丙丁南方火，戊己中央土，庚辛西方金，壬癸北方水。入式之法：甲課在寅，乙課在辰，丙戊課在巳，丁己課在未，庚課在申，辛課在戌，壬課在亥，癸課在丑。
Sources: 大六壬指南 卷一; 大六壬集应钤 庚辰日亥将、庚申日寅将; 六壬课经 斫轮