How to Write 信 (xìn) — Meaning “letter; faith; trust; believe”

Imagine a person (亻) writing down their words (言) on paper — that act of writing shows trust. Alternatively, think of 'I trust a person who keeps their word'. The combination of person and speech directly reminds you of 'believe' or 'letter'.

The left radical 亻 should be narrow and not too tall, with the first stroke slightly slanted. The right part 言 has seven strokes: start with a dot, then three horizontals, a vertical, and two more horizontals; keep the dot centered above the first horizontal. A common mistake is making the left radical too wide or forgetting the vertical stroke in 言.

信 uses 言 (words) on the right, meaning trust or letter. 伯 uses 白 (white) and means 'uncle' or 'elder'. 估 uses 古 (ancient) and means 'estimate' or 'appraise'. While all three share the person radical 亻, their right parts are completely different, so focus on the right side to tell them apart.

信 is very common: 写信 (write a letter), 相信 (believe), and 信心 (confidence). It also appears in 信用 (credit/trustworthiness), which is a key cultural value in Chinese society. Historically, keeping one's 信 (word) is a core Confucian virtue, so you'll see it in many moral and business contexts.

Common words containing 信 include: 写信 (xiě xìn) — To write a letter; 相信 (xiāng xìn) — believe; 信心 (xìn xīn) — confidence; faith.