<p>Some words consisting of the same characters may not have the same meaning in ancient and modern times. 道德 can mean morality in modern time, but it might not mean the same in the time of Laozi.</p>
<p>Another interesting thing is about 老子, which could mean the name of an ancient philosopher Laozi, but which could also mean &quot;myself&quot; as in &quot;老子天下第一&quot;（I am No. 1 in the world), or &quot;你敢动一下老子试试”(I dare you to touch me) to show the self-importance.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T06:48:17.977Z
老子 may also mean  父亲 Apprently only as I, me for men: 老年男子的自称。即老夫。
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-30T13:32:56.737Z
2024-03-30T13:32:56.737Z
NanningYouth
<p>The meaning of the words - &quot;道&quot;, &quot;德&quot; and &quot;道德&quot;.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>道 - law; rule.</p>
</li>
<li><p>德 - ethics; morality; virtue.</p>
</li>
<li><p>道德 - morals/ethics, which represent the rules and laws of standard social behaviors.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>道德经 - A book that serves as a standard of morality/ethics/social behaviors.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-30T01:17:14.703Z
2024-03-30T01:17:14.703Z
r13
<p>By combining words we can create different meanings. A greenhouse is neither green nor a house!</p>
<p>Thus, 德国 is Virtueland and 英国 is Heroland! (Not really.)</p>
<p>道德</p>
<p>1: 社会意识形态之一,是人们共同生活及其行为的准则和规范 [morals, ethics]<br />
1: an ideology in society, (concerning) people's collective life and their behavioural norms and standards.</p>
<p>2: 合乎道德的[moral]<br />
2: accord with morality</p>
<p>现在的年轻人根本不讲道德。<br />
Young people these days have no morals.</p>
<p>我抛开了道德方面的顾虑。<br />
I set aside moral concerns.</p>
<p>一些医生涉嫌有不道德行为。<br />
Some doctors are suspected of having behaved unethically.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T00:58:38.867Z
So if I understand this, in modern parlance, there is no difference between 德 and 道德.  Both refer to ethics or morality generally speaking.
Gerry
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T06:39:06.800Z
It seems 德  can be an abbreviation of 道德: 道德，品行 [virtue;moral character;integrity] virtue: from Latin vir "man" The Romans apparently thought a gentleman should have "moral strength, high character, goodness; manliness; valor, bravery, courage (in war); excellence, worth" That didn't seem to stop the slaughter!  
The character shows:   

从彳(chì) and惪 ，表示与行走有关。本义:登高，攀登  

同本义[ascend] : 德，升也。——《说文》  

I would translate the 道德经 as: The Way of Virtue (which should lead one to enlightenment)
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T15:06:27.290Z
In translating the names of Western countries, Chinese people show their greatest sincerity and friendliness by giving the best Chinese characters they can ever think of, like 英,德,法,意,美,加, yet most of these countries have let China down to some degree.
NanningYouth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T19:31:32.173Z
I see, hence 美国, but it also seems that characters are chosen that approximate the native pronunciation, e.g., 德国 for Deutschland and 英国 for England.  Japan is an interesting one in that there's no phonetic link between the Chinese and Japanese, but  the countries' script are related and are thus written the same way in both languages,日本.  Chinese is not in this case trying to emulate native pronunciation.
Gerry
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-01T03:30:18.360Z
In the case of 美国, the closest pronunciation of America in Mandarin might be 阿灭里可, which has nothing to with the good word 美 now in use. Most of the older generations of Chinese people have good impression of America, as far as I know, due to their helping establish the Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing, and to their selfless help in the Anti-Japanese War during 1940s and in the Sino-Vietnam War from 1979 to 1990.
NanningYouth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-01T03:35:04.790Z
But in recent times many young Chinese people like to use 漂亮国,丑国,米国,霉国 in social media to give vent to their resentment.
NanningYouth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-01T06:58:52.447Z
日本 is, to put it mildly, very unfortunately named! A transliteration of Nihon or Nippon, I suppose.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-30T06:12:29.270Z
2024-03-30T06:12:29.270Z
Pedroski
<p>I understand that in Chinese each syllable is a word with its own meaning but that often, two individual words can be put together to form a compound word, which is often rendered in pinyin as one word.  Hànzì script, however, preserves the distinctness of each character-syllable.  How does this work, for example in the Dàodé of the 道德经?</p>
<p>If I take each of the syllables separately,道 = Way, 德 = ethics, and 经 = classic or sacred.  Dào dé then would be &quot;the way of ethics.&quot;  But I have seen a dictionary translate Dàodé as morality generally. Can I use that expression in Chinese? Can I use the term &quot;Dàodé&quot; to refer to morality generally?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-30T01:57:17.630Z
In a modern context, 道德经, could be translated as "A Moral Code"
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-31T19:15:32.323Z
Ah, that's very interesting.
Gerry
<difference><word>
Dào dé and dàodé. Difference between each word separately? And when combined together as a compound word?
# Dào dé and dàodé. Difference between each word separately? And when combined together as a compound word?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-29)

I understand that in Chinese each syllable is a word with its own meaning but that often, two individual words can be put together to form a compound word, which is often rendered in pinyin as one word. Hànzì script, however, preserves the distinctness of each character-syllable. How does this work, for example in the Dàodé of the 道德经?

If I take each of the syllables separately,道 = Way, 德 = ethics, and 经 = classic or sacred. Dào dé then would be "the way of ethics." But I have seen a dictionary translate Dàodé as morality generally. Can I use that expression in Chinese? Can I use the term "Dàodé" to refer to morality generally?

**Tags:** difference, word
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In a modern context, 道德经, could be translated as "A Moral Code"  
> **username_0**: Ah, that's very interesting.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-03-30. Score: 1

Some words consisting of the same characters may not have the same meaning in ancient and modern times. 道德 can mean morality in modern time, but it might not mean the same in the time of Laozi.

Another interesting thing is about 老子, which could mean the name of an ancient philosopher Laozi, but which could also mean "myself" as in "老子天下第一"（I am No. 1 in the world), or "你敢动一下老子试试”(I dare you to touch me) to show the self-importance.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: 老子 may also mean  父亲 Apprently only as I, me for men: 老年男子的自称。即老夫。  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-03-30. Score: 1

The meaning of the words - "道", "德" and "道德".

* 道 - law; rule.
* 德 - ethics; morality; virtue.
* 道德 - morals/ethics, which represent the rules and laws of standard social behaviors.

道德经 - A book that serves as a standard of morality/ethics/social behaviors.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-03-30. Score: 0

By combining words we can create different meanings. A greenhouse is neither green nor a house!

Thus, 德国 is Virtueland and 英国 is Heroland! (Not really.)

道德

1: 社会意识形态之一,是人们共同生活及其行为的准则和规范 [morals, ethics]  
1: an ideology in society, (concerning) people's collective life and their behavioural norms and standards.

2: 合乎道德的[moral]  
2: accord with morality

现在的年轻人根本不讲道德。  
Young people these days have no morals.

我抛开了道德方面的顾虑。  
I set aside moral concerns.

一些医生涉嫌有不道德行为。  
Some doctors are suspected of having behaved unethically.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So if I understand this, in modern parlance, there is no difference between 德 and 道德.  Both refer to ethics or morality generally speaking.  
> **username_3**: It seems 德  can be an abbreviation of 道德: 道德，品行 [virtue;moral character;integrity] virtue: from Latin vir "man" The Romans apparently thought a gentleman should have "moral strength, high character, goodness; manliness; valor, bravery, courage (in war); excellence, worth" That didn't seem to stop the slaughter!   The character shows:     从彳(chì) and惪 ，表示与行走有关。本义:登高，攀登    同本义[ascend] : 德，升也。——《说文》    I would translate the 道德经 as: The Way of Virtue (which should lead one to enlightenment)  
> **username_2**: In translating the names of Western countries, Chinese people show their greatest sincerity and friendliness by giving the best Chinese characters they can ever think of, like 英,德,法,意,美,加, yet most of these countries have let China down to some degree.  
> **username_0**: I see, hence 美国, but it also seems that characters are chosen that approximate the native pronunciation, e.g., 德国 for Deutschland and 英国 for England.  Japan is an interesting one in that there's no phonetic link between the Chinese and Japanese, but  the countries' script are related and are thus written the same way in both languages,日本.  Chinese is not in this case trying to emulate native pronunciation.  
> **username_2**: In the case of 美国, the closest pronunciation of America in Mandarin might be 阿灭里可, which has nothing to with the good word 美 now in use. Most of the older generations of Chinese people have good impression of America, as far as I know, due to their helping establish the Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing, and to their selfless help in the Anti-Japanese War during 1940s and in the Sino-Vietnam War from 1979 to 1990.  
> **username_2**: But in recent times many young Chinese people like to use 漂亮国,丑国,米国,霉国 in social media to give vent to their resentment.  
> **username_3**: 日本 is, to put it mildly, very unfortunately named! A transliteration of Nihon or Nippon, I suppose.  

---

