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四德

Mandarin · pinyin sì dé

four Confucian injunctions 孝悌忠信 (for men), namely: piety 孝 to one's parents, respect 悌 to one's older brother, loyalty 忠 to one's monarch, faith 信 to one's male friends
the four Confucian virtues for women of morality 德 dé, physical charm 容, propriety in speech 言 and efficiency in needlework 功

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四: sì · four
德: dé · ethics, morality, virtue

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · si4 de2

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(literary) the "four womanly virtues" (according to traditional Chinese culture, i.e. wifely ethics, wifely speech, wifely manners/appearance, and wifely work)
(literary) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see 四 (sì), 德 (dé).

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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