When one receives kindness, gratitude is only proper.
Tips
usage
Almost never appears alone in modern Chinese - speakers reach for the four-character idiom 感恩戴德 (gǎn'ēn dàidé, 'to feel kindness and bear gratitude'). 戴 here keeps its old sense 'to bear on the head' = to carry someone's kindness around with you everywhere.
history
戴德 is also the name of Western Han scholar 戴德 (Dai De, c. 1st century BCE), compiler of 《大戴礼记》 (Senior Dai's Record of Rites). His nephew 戴圣 compiled the more famous 《礼记》 (《小戴礼记》).
