Meaning & readings

faith, truth, fidelity, trust

On’yomi シン
Nanori し、しが、しな、しの、しぶ、とき、のび、のぶ、まこと

Origin

The character combines a person (the left-side element meaning human) with words or speech (the right side). When a person and their words align — when what they say matches reality and they keep their promises — that creates trust and faith. The pairing captures the idea that reliability comes from a person's consistent speech and honesty, which is why this character means faith, truth, and fidelity.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

9 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • meaning part right

Common words

  • 威信 いしん prestige; dignity
  • 外信 がいしん external communication
  • 確信 かくしん conviction; belief
  • 交信 こうしん telecommunications; correspondence
  • 自信 じしん self-confidence; confidence (in oneself)
  • 受信 じゅしん receiving (a message, letter, email, etc.); reception (radio, TV, etc.)
  • 所信 しょしん belief; conviction
  • 信義 しんぎ faith; fidelity

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
9
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#208 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+04FE1