<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany#Names_from_East_Asia">Wikipedia</a> (bolding added):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Chinese name is probably a phonetic approximation of the German
  proper adjective. The Vietnamese name is based on the Chinese name.
  The Japanese name is a phonetic approximation of the Dutch proper
  adjective. Noticeably, the characters with which the Chinese name is
  written have a flattering connotation while the Japanese characters
  are degrading. This is consistent with naming patterns of the two
  countries during the nineteenth century. The Korean name is based on
  the Japanese name. This is explained in detail below: <strong>The common
  Chinese name (Traditional: 德國, Simplified: 德国, Pinyin: Déguó) is a
  combination of the short form of 德意志 déyìzhì, which approximates the
  German pronunciation [ˈdɔʏtʃ] of Deutsch ‘German’, plus 國 guó
  ‘country’.</strong> The character 德 by itself means "moral" and is thus
  consistent with the Chinese pattern names of choosing characters which
  are not only phonetically comparable with national names.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-18T00:48:10.507Z
Vietnam is Chinese for "extreme south." Imagine how the Mexicans might feel if we referred to their country as the "extreme south."
Tom Au
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-04T16:19:47.900Z
Well, at this point, Vietnam _is_ the Mexico of China...
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-20T07:40:29.340Z
Tom Au, no, 越南 is not like that. Historically the area of Guangdong province and the around was called 越, and 越南 simply means even south to 越
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-12T19:14:30.533Z
2012-09-04T05:27:06.797Z
2012-09-04T05:27:06.797Z
BertR
<p>I am Chinese. Mr/Ms.Yozloy's answer is correct, and may I add something more here.</p>

<p>Here is what I know: some transcriptions of contries' names in Chinese came from Japanese (they share some same letters, which is called kanji, as you may know) in late 19th century. Here are some examples:</p>

<pre><code>       Japanese / Modern Chinese

America 米利坚   /  美利坚

England 英吉利   /  英格兰

Deutsch 独逸址   /  德意志

France  佛朗西   /  法兰西
</code></pre>

<p>The changes may come from the misunderstands in second translation（European language--Japanese--Chinese）or just because translators (they are all knowladged people at that time in China)want to show these contries' strength so that we can courage ourselves to run after them——at that time, China is a very weak country.</p>

<p>Actually there are changes after 1949：at first we named Mozambique “莫三鼻给”，however， Premier ZhouEnlai said that 鼻（nose） is not a good word here——and now we call Mozambique “莫桑比克”.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-20T07:41:28.250Z
English is 英吉利, England is 英格兰. The English channel is called 英吉利海峡 in Chinese.
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-11T15:48:56.723Z
2012-09-22T04:03:32.233Z
2012-09-22T04:03:32.233Z
Mu Long
<p>Google translate translates "德国" separately, which is a wrong way. 
In Chinese, "德" is a word which means "Virtue", and "国" is also a word which means "country". So you get the result "德国=Virtue Country".</p>

<p>But the right way should be: you consider "德国" as a word. It means the country, German.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-11T17:13:53.920Z
2012-09-11T17:13:53.920Z
Jackie
<p>德国's 德 is from the Chinese word 德意志. Chinese people are used to use words with two characters, so we added a 国, which means nation, after 德.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T01:02:55.070Z
2012-09-12T10:05:29.297Z
2012-09-12T10:05:29.297Z
Yuan Zongheng
<p>德 is phonetic transcription of Deutsche.</p>

<p>Similarly 法 in 法国 is phonetic transcription of France, not "the country of law".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-07T06:55:49.960Z
+1 to clearing this out
mko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-12T19:06:50.560Z
2012-08-12T19:06:50.560Z
NS.X.
<p>Here is what I think and how it is named: In <a href="http://translate.google.com/?q=%E5%BE%B7%20extreme&amp;hl=en&amp;rlz=1C2RNKA_enUS490US490&amp;prmd=imvnsa&amp;um=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=584&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;sa=N&amp;tab=pT#zh-CN/en/%E5%BE%B7%0A%0A%E5%9B%BD" rel="nofollow">Google translate</a> it says it means "virtue country".</p>

<p>My guess is probably wrong but here it is:</p>

<p>China is an alliy of America, and America boosted up the nuke technology and sped up the surrender of the Japanese by Germany. Is it correct, if it is not truth, then how come it was named the virtuous country?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-26T16:07:30.740Z
DQN  was jokying.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-09T22:59:59.920Z
德国 virtuous country 法国 justice country 英国 heroic country 美国 beauty country 俄国 tilt country 泰国 peaceful country 韩国 wall country 中国 middle county
DQN
<history>
Why is 德国 the “virtue country”?
# Why is 德国 the “virtue country”?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-12)

Here is what I think and how it is named: In [Google translate](http://translate.google.com/?q=%E5%BE%B7%20extreme&hl=en&rlz=1C2RNKA_enUS490US490&prmd=imvnsa&um=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1280&bih=584&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=pT#zh-CN/en/%E5%BE%B7%0A%0A%E5%9B%BD) it says it means "virtue country".

My guess is probably wrong but here it is:

China is an alliy of America, and America boosted up the nuke technology and sped up the surrender of the Japanese by Germany. Is it correct, if it is not truth, then how come it was named the virtuous country?

**Tags:** history

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 德国 virtuous country 法国 justice country 英国 heroic country 美国 beauty country 俄国 tilt country 泰国 peaceful country 韩国 wall country 中国 middle county  
> **username_1**: DQN  was jokying.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2012-08-12. Score: 23 | Accepted answer

德 is phonetic transcription of Deutsche.

Similarly 法 in 法国 is phonetic transcription of France, not "the country of law".

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: +1 to clearing this out  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2012-08-12. Score: 12

From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany#Names_from_East_Asia) (bolding added):

> The Chinese name is probably a phonetic approximation of the German
> proper adjective. The Vietnamese name is based on the Chinese name.
> The Japanese name is a phonetic approximation of the Dutch proper
> adjective. Noticeably, the characters with which the Chinese name is
> written have a flattering connotation while the Japanese characters
> are degrading. This is consistent with naming patterns of the two
> countries during the nineteenth century. The Korean name is based on
> the Japanese name. This is explained in detail below: **The common
> Chinese name (Traditional: 德國, Simplified: 德国, Pinyin: Déguó) is a
> combination of the short form of 德意志 déyìzhì, which approximates the
> German pronunciation [ˈdɔʏtʃ] of Deutsch ‘German’, plus 國 guó
> ‘country’.** The character 德 by itself means "moral" and is thus
> consistent with the Chinese pattern names of choosing characters which
> are not only phonetically comparable with national names.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Vietnam is Chinese for "extreme south." Imagine how the Mexicans might feel if we referred to their country as the "extreme south."  
> **username_5**: Well, at this point, Vietnam _is_ the Mexico of China...  
> **username_6**: username_4, no, 越南 is not like that. Historically the area of Guangdong province and the around was called 越, and 越南 simply means even south to 越  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2012-09-11. Score: 5

I am Chinese. Mr/Ms.Yozloy's answer is correct, and may I add something more here.

Here is what I know: some transcriptions of contries' names in Chinese came from Japanese (they share some same letters, which is called kanji, as you may know) in late 19th century. Here are some examples:

```
       Japanese / Modern Chinese

America 米利坚   /  美利坚

England 英吉利   /  英格兰

Deutsch 独逸址   /  德意志

France  佛朗西   /  法兰西

```

The changes may come from the misunderstands in second translation（European language--Japanese--Chinese）or just because translators (they are all knowladged people at that time in China)want to show these contries' strength so that we can courage ourselves to run after them——at that time, China is a very weak country.

Actually there are changes after 1949：at first we named Mozambique “莫三鼻给”，however， Premier ZhouEnlai said that 鼻（nose） is not a good word here——and now we call Mozambique “莫桑比克”.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: English is 英吉利, England is 英格兰. The English channel is called 英吉利海峡 in Chinese.  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2012-09-11. Score: 2

Google translate translates "德国" separately, which is a wrong way.
In Chinese, "德" is a word which means "Virtue", and "国" is also a word which means "country". So you get the result "德国=Virtue Country".

But the right way should be: you consider "德国" as a word. It means the country, German.


---

### Answer by username_9 on 2012-09-12. Score: 1

德国's 德 is from the Chinese word 德意志. Chinese people are used to use words with two characters, so we added a 国, which means nation, after 德.


---

