The Chinese character 信 (pronounced xìn) is composed of two elements - the radical 人 in the altered form of 亻(pronounced rén meaning person) and the character 言 (yán meaning word; to speak).
A person standing by his or her word symbolizes trust, one of the meanings of this character. The other meanings are believe, true, and mail or letter.
The character 信 is classified as an associative compound. While it is easy to see that a person's word equals trust, this character's association with mail is less clear. Perhaps we can imagine letters as a form of communication unique to humankind - people are the only ones capable of sending words by mail.
Mandarin Vocabulary With Xìn
| Traditional Characters | Simplified Characters | Pinyin | English |
| 半信半疑 | 半信半疑 | bàn xìn bàn yí | half-believe, half-doubt |
| 報信 | 报信 | bào xìn | notify; inform |
| 不信任 | 不信任 | bù xìn rèn | mistrust |
| 不信用 | 不信用 | bù xìn yòng | distrust |
| 電信 | 电信 | diàn xìn | telecommunications |
| 電子信箱 | 电子信箱 | diàn zǐ xìn xiāng | electronic mailbox |
| 短信 | 短信 | duǎn xìn | SMS message |
| 公開信 | 公开信 | gōng kāi xìn | open letter |
| 黑信 | 黑信 | hēi xìn | blackmail |
| 互信 | 互信 | hù xìn | mutual trust |
| 可信任 | 可信任 | kě xìn rèn | trusty |
| 難以置信 | 难以置信 | nán yǐ zhì xìn | incredible |
| 使信服 | 使信服 | shǐ xìn fú | to convince |
| 推薦信 | 推荐信 | tuī jiàn xìn | recommendation letter |
| 寫信 | 写信 | xiě xìn | to write a letter |
| 信封 | 信封 | xìn fēng | envelope |
| 信服 | 信服 | xìn fú | to convince |
| 信賴 | 信赖 | xìn lài | confide; trust |
| 信箱 | 信箱 | xìn xiāng | mailbox |
| 信用 | 信用 | xìn yòng | credit |
| 自信 | 自信 | zì xìn | confidence |
