How to Write 谌 (chén) — Meaning “sincere or faithful”

Imagine a very honest person speaking: the left side 讠 is a speech bubble, and the right side 甚 looks like a person standing tall and saying 'I am extremely sincere.' The sound 'chen' can remind you of 'Chen' as in a trustworthy friend.

Start with the radical 讠 (dot, horizontal, vertical hook), then write 甚: first the top horizontal, then the vertical, then the left and right parts, and finally the bottom horizontal. A common mistake is making the 甚 section too wide; keep the left radical compact and the right part balanced, with the bottom horizontal slightly longer.

谌 (chén, sincere) has 甚 on the right, 诫 (jiè, warn) has 戒 (a guard or warning), and 诬 (wū, falsely accuse) has 巫 (a witch). Visually, 甚 is more complex with multiple horizontal strokes, while 戒 has a diagonal stroke and a dot, and 巫 has a central cross shape.

谌 is rarely used in everyday conversation; it appears mainly in formal or literary texts, such as idioms like 谌称 (truly called), and is also a Chinese surname. Cultural note: when used as a given name, it conveys the hope that the person will be sincere and trustworthy, reflecting traditional Confucian values.

Common words containing 谌 include: 谌称 (chén chēng) — truly called; 忠谌 (zhōng chén) — Sincere and loyal; 谌训 (chén xùn) — sincere instruction.