<P> Tao Te Ching is the Wade - Giles romanization of the same name as the pinyin Daodejing and should be pronounced in the same way . That is, its ⟨ t ⟩ s should be pronounced closer to English ⟨ d ⟩ s . The Chinese characters in the title are: </P> <Dl> <Dd> Dào / tao literally means "way", or one of its synonyms, but was extended to mean "the Way". This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Dào / tao literally means "way", or one of its synonyms, but was extended to mean "the Way". This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe . </Dd> <Dl> <Dd> Dé / te means "virtue", "personal character", "inner strength" (virtuosity), or "integrity". The semantics of this Chinese word resemble English virtue, which developed from the Italian virtù, an archaic sense of "inner potency" or "divine power" (as in "healing virtue of a drug") to the modern meaning of "moral excellence" or "goodness". Compare the compound word taote (Chinese: 道德; pinyin: Dàodé; literally: "ethics", "ethical principles", "morals" or "morality"). Jīng / ching as it is used here means "canon", "great book", or "classic". </Dd> </Dl>

The powers of the universe called the tao translates literally to what