The title Jíjiùpiān uses the word piān 篇, which is attested in Han dynasty texts with the meaning of "book, written document" (such as in the Hanshu 漢書 chapter on Wu Di, "著之於篇，朕親覽焉。"[1]).

The Science and Civilisation in China collaborators Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsung say, "One hardly knows how to render its title, unless 'Handy Primer'.

[3] The Chinese lexicographers Heming Yong and Jing Peng say that jijiu 急就 "instant success" suggested "fast learning", as seen in the first words of the Jijiupian preface.

[14] These proto-dictionaries facilitated the development of Chinese xiǎoxué 小學 "minor learning; pre-modern 'linguistics'; philology" (which now means "primary school"), and laid the academic foundation for the compilation of wordbooks, vocabularies, and dictionaries.

[8] During the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589), several other popular textbooks appeared, such as the Qianziwen "Thousand Characters Text", Baijiaxing "Myriad Family Surnames", and Sanzijing "Three-character Classic".

[8] Contemporary Chinese scholarship admires the Jijiupian because of its high factual content as contrasted with the much more moralistic tendencies of similar later works such as the Sanzijing.

(Of drugs and drug-plants there are:) Huángqín 黄芩 Scutellaria lateriflora, fúlíng 伏苓 Wolfiporia cocos, yù 礜 arsenolite, and cháihú 茈胡 Bupleurum falcatum.

Mǔméng 牡蒙 Rubia yunnanensis, gāncǎo 甘草 Glycyrrhiza glabra, wǎn 菀 Aster tataricus, and lílú 藜蘆 Veratrum niqrum.

Wūhuì 烏喙 and fùzǐ 附子 both Aconitum carmichaelii, jiāo 椒, Zanthoxylum piperitum, and yánhuá 芫花 Daphne genkwa.

Bànxià 半夏 Pinellia ternata, zàojiá 皂莢 Gleditsia sinensis, ài 艾 Artemisia argyi, and tuówú 橐吾 Ligularia sibirica.

The text "impresses readers with its balanced content and ingenuity",[3] and some examples are: To buy on credit, to borrow, to sell and to buy, these activities give convenience to merchants and markets….To cut, to mince, to broil and to cook a whole piece of meat, each has its own shape….Rooms, houses, and inns are [for people] to rest and there are also towers, palaces, and halls….Various ranked lords have their fiefs, lands, and household vassals; these [privileges] come from hard studies, but not from [the help of] ghosts or spirits.