Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

徳: benevolence, virtue

Also: goodness, commanding respect

JLPT N114 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

彳 and 心 carry the meaning · 直 gives the sound

14 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

トクtoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 徳とくvirtue, goodness
  • 道徳どうとくmorals
  • 人徳じんとくnatural virtue, personal virtue
  • 不徳ふとくimmorality, depravity
  • 美徳びとくvirtue
  • 悪徳商法あくとくしょうほうcorrupt business

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Take the first step on your journey! These three quick strokes show the left side of a bustling street or a person taking a brisk step forward.”
More in the 彳 step story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
彳

Also built on step (彳)

All 19
直

Also built on straightaway (直)

The 直 family reads チ (chi); 徳 is read トク.

心

Also built on heart (心)

All 45

Also read トク

8 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseA Japanese form · Chinese writes 德 · dé

徳 is a Japanese simplification. Chinese writes 德 in both simplified and traditional script.

Simplified
德 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
德 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin dé most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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