Abstract: Pathological terms are very important components of TCM terminology, most of them, however, do not have the corresponding counterparts in Western medicine semantically. These terms are rich in connotation with profound cultural backgrounds. The translation of these pathological terms have already been undertaken while the research on the translation approaches has hardly been explored so far. From the perspective of “faithfulness” and guided by criteria of optimal approximation in translation, this paper takes “duanxie” from Synopsis of Golden Chamber as an example, analyzing its connotation and differentiating all the existing English translation versions to discuss translation approaches and provide translation suggestions. This paper also discusses how the translation approaches of TCM terms could be used in further translation practice and teaching by applying 3W teaching mode.

Key words: Synopsis of Golden Chamber, TCM pathological term, translation approach