Words about drug taboos are often used in ancient literature on materia medica. It has been found by analysis of their application that taboo words have their own scope of application. For example, 'fan' and 'wu' are used most in drug incompatibility; 'jin', 'ji' and 'jie' are used in taboos on drugs and food for patients; words such as 'should not be eaten with…', 'wu, wuyu (wufan)…' and 'buyu…and buyi' are primarily used in taboos for food. Adverse incidents could be found in situations described by those words, especially in sections about drug and food taboos.