Translations:Chinese herbology/3/en

The term herbology is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, and mineral products are also utilized, among which some are poisonous. In the Huangdi Neijing they are referred to as 毒藥 (pinyin: dúyào) which means toxin, poison, or medicine. Paul U. Unschuld points out that this is similar etymology to the Greek pharmakon and so he uses the term "pharmaceutic". Thus, the term "medicinal" (instead of herb) is usually preferred as a translation for 药 (pinyin: yào).