Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/信-xìn-letter;-have-faith-in,-believe

信 xìn letter; have faith in, believe - Mandarin Chinese

Definition

Radical is 人 rén “person”, which is written 亻 when occurring at the left side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component at the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” The other component is 言 yán “speech”. The idea is that a “person’s” 人 “speech” 言 is to be “believed” 信. Distinguish 信 from 言.

Examples

• 信 Xìn Xin [SN]
• 信 xìn letter [N]; have faith in, believe
• 来信 (來信) láixìn send a letter (to where speaker is) [VO]
• 明信片 míngxìnpiàn picture postcard [N]
• 回信 huíxìn respond with a letter [VO]
• 信用 xìnyòng credit; trustworthiness [N]
• 相信 xiāngxìn believe, believe in [V]

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler

Other Lessons

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• 调(調) tiáo adjust; blend
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