Roger Ames's Confucian Role Ethics:A Vocabulary,is a masterpiece in the field of Chinese and Western comparative philosophy.This paper focuses on the meaning of the title,explaining the meaning of "role," the key word in the title,in both Chinese-and English-language contexts,and compares these two meanings with Ames's reconstruction of Confucian ethics in its English-language context.I argue that "role" in the English-language title and context does not mean precisely the same thing as it does in the Chinese context.Rujia Juese Lunlixue 儒家角色伦理学,the literal translation of "Confucian role ethics" in Chinese,has its own connotations in a Chinese context and cannot fully express what Ames tries to express in his masterpiece.This discussion leads to the question "What is Confucian ethics-is it just living and playing one's role,or is it actually the way to live and play one's role?"