美德
měidé · HSK 7
virtue
😇 美德 = 美 beautiful + 德 virtue/morality, so a beautiful character means goodness
美 means beautiful and 德 means moral virtue. Stack them and you get beautiful morality, which is exactly what a good virtue is. The měidé sound also chimes with English merit, another word for a praiseworthy quality.
美 — sheep 羊 on top + big 大 below
美 is traditionally explained as a pictograph of a person (大) wearing a large sheep or ram's-head ornament, suggesting beauty through adornment. An alternative reading takes 羊 (sheep) over 大 (big) to mean 'a big, fat sheep'—seen as delicious and pleasing, hence 'beautiful, good'.
德 — 彳 step + 直 straight + 心 heart
Originally written with 彳 (step/walk) plus 直 (straight) and 心 (heart), depicting walking a straight path with an upright heart. The bronze and seal forms emphasized inner uprightness, and the meaning shifted from 'straight conduct' to 'virtue, moral character,' and by extension 'kindness' or 'Germany' as a phonetic loan.