Acrid

辛 xīn, also translated pungent and spicy, is the flavour associated with Metal and the Lungs, dispersing and moving outwards. Many acrid herbs release exterior pathogens by promoting sweating, such as ephedra (ma huang, Ephedra sinica), cinnamon (rou gui, Cinnamomum verum) and mint (bo he, Mentha x piperita). Others disperse stasis by invigorating qi and Blood circulation, like bitter orange (zhi shi, Citrus aurantium), corydalis (yan hu suo, Corydalis yanhusuo) and turmeric (jiang huang, Curcuma longa).

Wine-frying can enhance the acrid, dispersing properties of herbs, as is often used with Chinese angelica (dang gui, Angelica sinensis) to focus on its pain-relieving qualities, instead of its tonic properties. This dispersing quality of acrid herbs can also lead to qi and fluids being lost, and so they are used with caution in deficient patients.