礼义廉耻 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• propriety, justice, integrity and a sense of shame (i.e. the four social bonds, 四维 (sì wéi))

Character by character

• 礼lǐcourtesy, manners, social customs
• 义yìright conduct, propriety; justice
• 廉liánupright, honorable, honest
• 耻chǐshame, humiliation; ashamed

Idioms sharing a character

• 以礼相待 yǐ lǐ xiāng dài
• 傲慢无礼 ào màn wú lǐ
• 先礼后兵 xiān lǐ hòu bīng
• 博文约礼 bó wén yuē lǐ
• 敬贤礼士 jìng xián lǐ shì
• 礼仪之邦 lǐ yí zhī bāng
• 礼尚往来 lǐ shàng wǎng lái
• 礼崩乐坏 lǐ bēng yuè huài
• 顶礼膜拜 dǐng lǐ mó bài
• 仁人义士 rén rén yì shì

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.