Acupuncture Acupuncture (from Lat. acus, "needle", and pungere, "to prick") or in Standard Mandarin, 針砭 (zhēn biān) (a related word, 針灸 (zhēn jiǔ), refers to acupuncture together with moxibustion)ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary edited by John DeFrancis, as used in Wenlin version 3. Acupuncture