"乏善可陈" is formed by sequentially combining the characters 乏 (meaning "to lack"), 善 (meaning "good" or "goodness"), 可 (meaning "can" or "that can be"), and 陈 (meaning "to state" or "to recount"), which together literally read as "lacking goodness that can be stated", directly expressing the notion that there is nothing praiseworthy to describe.