uṣṇa: what the term means and how it is translated
uṣṇa उष्ण is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 5 different ways, which is the reason this page exists: the renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean.
| Transliteration | uṣṇa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | उष्ण |
| Also written | ushna guna, ushna virya, aushnya, hot, heating, thermogenic |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-4 |
| Grouped here under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| Classical citations | 6 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-07 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
heat/hotness; one of the 20 gurvadi gunas; caused due to activated agni mahābhūta; denotes physiological & pharmacological hotness; manifested by increased agni, improved appetite & digestion, increased motion in channels, pacifies vata, kapha, increases pitta. An attribute of Pitta.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0379; also AF0249 'anuṣṇaṁ' = 'Lukewarm'; ṣaḍūṣaṇa 'A group of following six plants having Ushna Virya' · comparator
Fullest comparator entry.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
hot; warm; heating
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 59 (pitta 'hot'); Su.22 his 10 ('warm'); Su.26 his 24 (agneya 'hot'); Su.26 his 1 and his 20, second run ('heating in Energy', 'hot and cooling'); footnote to Su.22 his 10: ''Ushna' is warm or hot, i.e., producing heat in the body' · public-domain translation
Three English words for one Sanskrit term within one translation.
heat-making; thermogenetic; hot
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.40 ('cooling or heat-making'; 'either hot or cool'; 'thermogenetic potency'); Su.41 ('heat-making, pungent and keen'; 'thermogenetic') · public-domain translation
'Thermogenetic' is Bhishagratna's coinage; also 'heat-making'.
Ushna Guna – Hotness
easyayurveda.com 'Gurvadi Gunas' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2019/06/12/gurvadi-gunas/ · modern web textbook
Typical textbook; opposite sheeta.
Ushna Veerya – hot potency
easyayurveda.com 'Veerya, Potency Of Herbs And Doshas' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2019/03/09/veerya-herb-potency/ · modern web textbook
Textbook rendering as a vīrya.
The classical passages
Each citation gives its address so a reader can check it in a printed edition, our account of what the passage establishes, and the result of reading it against its source.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.60; Kaviratna prints 59 · checked against the source
Bile, which may be cold, hot, keen, soft, sour, liquid, and bitter, is speedily cured by objects having adverse attributes.
Uṣṇa ('hot') as a quality of Pitta. Sanskrit as retrieved: सस्नेहमुष्णं तीक्ष्णं च द्रवमम्लं सरं कटु| ||६०|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya). WARNING (rule 12): 'cold' is not in the Sanskrit (sasneha = slightly unctuous); do not record Pitta as cold on this authority.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.12; Kaviratna prints 10 · checked against the source
Such things as are light, warm, pungent, not slimy, dry, subtile, rough, unstable, and hard, are generally Langhana.
Uṣṇa ('warm') as a laṅghana quality. Sanskrit as retrieved: लघूष्णतीक्ष्णविशदं रूक्षं सूक्ष्मं खरं सरम्||१२|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhanabrimhaniya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.45; Kaviratna prints 1 (his numbering restarts here, at 'Here occur some verses') · checked against the source
That object which is sweet in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as cooling in Energy. That which is sour in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as heating in Energy. So also that object which is pungent in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as heating in energy.
The rule inferring uṣṇa/śīta vīrya from rasa and vipāka. Sanskrit as retrieved: शीतं वीर्येण यद्द्रव्यं मधुरं रसपाकयोः| तयोरम्लं यदुष्णं च यद्द्रव्यं कटुकं तयोः||४५|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.64-65; Kaviratna prints 20-21 (second run) · checked against the source
Some say that mild and keen, heavy and light, oily and dry, and hot and cooling, are the eight kinds of Energy which objects may have. Others are of opinion that objects have only two kinds of Energy, viz., cooling and hot.
Uṣṇa as one of the two (or eight) vīryas. Sanskrit as retrieved: मृदुतीक्ष्णगुरुलघुस्निग्धरूक्षोष्णशीतलम्| वीर्यमष्टविधं केचित्, केचिद्द्विविधमास्थिताः||६४|| शीतोष्णमिति... ||६५||.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40:Sanskrit verse number not established (Bhishagratna prints none) · checked against the source
The potency of a drug is either cooling or heat-making owing to the twofold (hot and cool) nature of the temperament of the world.
Sushruta's two-vīrya doctrine with uṣṇa ('heat-making') as one pole; the same passage then gives the eight-fold list 'hot or cool, emollient or dry, expansive or slimy, mild or keen'.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 1:17 (GRETIL, Das and Emmerick numbering) · checked against the source
uṣṇa-śīta-guṇotkarṣāt tatra vīryaṃ dvi-dhā smṛtam |
Vāgbhaṭa adopts the two-fold vīrya (uṣṇa and śīta) by 'excellence of the quality'. Reference only.
Not to be confused with
- śīta
- Opposite member of the pair.
- uṣṇa vīrya vs uṣṇa guna
- The same word names a gurvadi guna (WHO DG0379) and one of the two vīryas; the texts treat vīrya as the guna's dominance in action (AH Su.1.17).
- tīkṣṇa
- Sharp; co-occurs with uṣṇa in Pitta and fire lists but is a separate pair (tīkṣṇa/manda).
- kaṭu
- Pungent taste, generally uṣṇa but a rasa not a guna; Kaviratna's 'pungent' sometimes stands for tīkṣṇa, compounding the confusion.
- temperature (physical heat)
- Kaviratna's own footnote: 'producing heat in the body'; the guna is a physiological effect, not the serving temperature (WHO AF0249 anuṣṇa 'lukewarm' is the physical sense).
Renderings that do not hold
- spicy. Culinary; maps to kaṭu/tīkṣṇa rather than uṣṇa.
- warm (as mild temperature). Kaviratna's 'warm' in Su.22 understates the term; the same translator uses 'hot' elsewhere for the same Sanskrit.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Sanskrit verse numbers for Sushruta Su.40 vīrya passage.
- Whether any clinical trial has used an objective thermogenic endpoint for uṣṇa vīrya (none found).
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, uṣṇa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/ushna/, CC BY 4.0.
The whole lexicon is downloadable from the index.
Machine-readable source: Markdown.
Data exported 2026-10-08.
Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been translated. Nothing here is advice, and nothing here describes how any condition should be treated.