When you come out from a Korean Medical doctor's clinic, you usually have a package of herbal medicine in your hand. For the most part, the medicine can hardly be told apart by their appearance or taste after concoction. The main thing to differentiate one kind of medicine from another is its name. And a good amount of information to be gained from just checking out the names. After all, they must have such names for a reason.

The name of each Korean Medical prescription is made up of two parts: a body and a suffix. The body tells about certain characteristics of the prescription, while the suffix describes the form the medication is in. This is the rule, but with one exception; when a single ingredient is prescribed as medicine, the suffix is usually omitted. This is partly due to the fact that some prescriptions are named after one ingredient. For example, a prescription called Kyejitang(桂枝湯) is named after Kyeji(桂枝), and if the herb was to be used solely, the presence of the suffix would cause different prescriptions to have the same name.

Suffixes and forms of prescriptions

It would be easier to start with the suffixes, because the form of the medicine is something that can actually be seen with one's eyes. Korean medicine prescribes its formulas in more ways than expected. It would be pointless to describe all of the detailed ways of processing. However, the forms described in this article are the major ones; the rest are similar with minor variations in processing.

The most widely recognized form is boiled liquid. This is called 'Tang'(湯). The ingredients are boiled, and the liquid portion is used. It is mostly used internally, but sometimes it may be used for washing external regions. Tang is readily absorbed into the body.

'San'(散) means the medicine is powdered. The prescription is dried and ground into fine powder for internal use. It is readily absorbed and can be prepared in large quantities, but is difficult to take.

'Hwan'(丸) is a suffix for round pills. Usually the size of a pepper seed, material ground into powder is rolled into pills with wine or starch. Hwan has a relatively long absorption period, so the medicine has a more lasting effect.

‘Go’(膏) indicates pasty medicine. This includes external medication like plasters and ointments, but internal medication may also be prepared in this way.

An interesting method of preparation is 'Ju'(酒), which calls for placing ingredients in liquor. The liquor gained thus may be used both internally and externally, but because of the Warmth and Heat of the liquor, it may not be suitable for people with weak Kidney Eum. The Heat may dry up what little Eum that is left, and the Life Gate Fire would rage up from under, causing a kind of vicious circle.

There are many more ways of processing the material, of course. And coated pills, extracts, capsules and aerosols have become recent additions to the variety of forms in which Korean medicine comes in. The new forms have made use of the medicine more comfortable for the patient. Korean medicine is also keeping up with the times.

The big hint; ways of interpreting the body part

Like the suffixes, the reasons behind the body part names are plentiful. Some have been named for their effects, some for the ingredients, and so on. But you might like to have some base knowledge about the composition of a Korean medical prescription for reading this part. Material in a KM prescription may have one of four main roles, the Lord(君), Minister(臣), Follower(佐), and the Envoy(使). If you want to read more on the four roles, it would be a good idea to click here and check out some additional material.

A prescription may be named after its components. Mahwangtang(麻黃湯) has been named so because Mahwang(麻黃) is the Lord in the prescription. And some long names like Kyejichulgamtang(桂枝朮甘湯) include more than two ingredients in the name. This particular one indicates it has Kyeji(桂枝), Baekchul(白朮), and Gamcho(甘草) in it. So the name might tell what's cooking.

Many also have been named for their effects or main cures. This might be hard to recognize, because the names are in a verb-and-noun form. Hwachunghwan(化蟲丸) is such a case. The Hwa(化) in front means in this case 'to cure', and chung(蟲) means ‘parasite’. So it treats parasite problems. And a little poetic twist was involved in the naming of Baekhotang(白虎湯). Baekho(白虎) means 'white tiger', and the story behind the prescription is that its exceptional cooling effects were comparable to the shivers one would feel upon hearing the cry of a white tiger echo in a valley. Thus it was named for its exceptional cooling capacity.

The area it takes effect on is also a naming factor. Bosimhwan(補心丸) means the pill would tonify(補) the Heart(心). This is a good example which shows that a prescription name may be related to more than two of the naming factors here. The Bo(補) indicates that it is a tonic, thereby revealing the effect, too.

A rather surprising element in naming is the number or proportion of ingredients included. Samultang(四物湯) states that four(四) things(物) are in the brew(湯). And Yukiltang(六一湯) was named so because the proportion of ingredients are 6(六) to 1(一).

Numerous other prescriptions are named according to many other elements as well. Some have been named according to appearance, or time to take the medication. But in all of the names of Korean medical prescriptions, there is a meaning behind every letter.