诚 (chéng): honest
诚 (chéng) is a Chinese character meaning “honest.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 成 (phonetic). It ranks #1152 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 诚 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).
Definitions
- honest
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 诚 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 诚
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 诚实adjective | chéng shí | honest | 4 |
| 真诚adjective | zhēn chéng | sincere | 5 |
| 诚信adjective | chéng xìn | honesty | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 忠诚 | zhōng chéng | devoted |
| 坦诚 | tǎn chéng | candid |
| 虔诚 | qián chéng | pious |
| 开诚布公 | kāi chéng bù gōng | variant of 開誠布公|开诚布公[kai1 cheng2 bu4 gong1] |
| 诚意 | chéng yì | sincerity |
| 诚恳 | chéng kěn | sincere |
| 诚挚 | chéng zhì | sincere |
| 诚心 | chéng xīn | sincerity |
| 坦诚相见 | tǎn chéng xiāng jiàn | to trust one another fully |
| 投诚 | tóu chéng | to defect |
| 热诚 | rè chéng | devotion |
| 诚心诚意 | chéng xīn chéng yì | earnestly and sincerely (idiom) |
| 诚惶诚恐 | chéng huáng chéng kǒng | in fear and trepidation (idiom) |
| 竭诚 | jié chéng | wholeheartedly |
| 诚然 | chéng rán | indeed |
诚 appears in 47 compound words: 38 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 诚 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (9)
Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing 诚.
Example Sentences
诚实是做人的基本原则，失去信任很难挽回。
Chéngshí shì zuò rén de jīběn yuánzé, shīqù xìnrèn hěn nán wǎnhuí.
Honesty is the basic principle of being human; lost trust is hard to regain.
酷澎个资外泄!只赔千元折价券挨批没诚意 律师:最高可求偿2万
kù péng gè zī wài xiè ! zhī péi qiān yuán zhé jià quàn āi pī méi chéng yì lǜ shī : zuì gāo kě qiú cháng 2 wàn
Cool Peng's personal information leaked! Only 1,000 yuan discount coupon was criticized for being insincere Lawyer: Up to 20,000 yuan can be claimed
巴拿马强行接管李嘉诚旗下两大港口 香港政府与长和严正抗议
bā ná mǎ qiáng háng jiē guǎn lǐ jiā chéng qí xià liǎng dà gǎng kǒu xiāng gǎng zhèng fǔ yǔ cháng hé yán zhèng kàng yì
Panama forcibly took over Li Ka-shing's two major ports The Hong Kong government protested with Chang and Zheng
227办第二届“熊山音乐会” 郭子毅诚邀民众户外音乐会
2 2 7 bàn dì èr jiè xióng shān yīn lè huì guō zǐ yì chéng yāo mín zhòng hù wài yīn lè huì
227 held the second "Bear Mountain Concert" Guo Ziyi sincerely invited the public to hold an outdoor concert
初九“天公生” 素供品诚心敬拜 小心3大地雷 误踩恐衰整年
chū jiǔ tiān gōng shēng sù gōng pǐn chéng xīn jìng bài xiǎo xīn 3 dà dì léi wù cǎi kǒng shuāi zhěng nián
On the ninth day of the first month, "Tiangong Sheng" vegetarian offerings worship sincerely, beware of 3 major landmines, and mistakenly step on them for fear of decline throughout the year
宏诚创新一季度订单迎爆发式增长,国内首创产品...
hóng chéng chuàng xīn yī jì dù dìng shàn yíng bào fā shì zēng cháng , guó nèi shǒu chuàng chǎn pǐn . . .
Hongcheng Innovation's first-quarter orders meet explosive growth, the first domestic product...
汤姆怀疑玛丽是否诚实。
Tāngmǔ huáiyí Mǎlì shìfǒu chéngshí.
Tom doubts whether Mary is honest.
诚信是一种重要的美德。
Chéngxìn shì yī zhǒng zhòngyào de měidé.
Honesty is a capital virtue.
诚实是他成功最重要的因素。
Chéngshí shì tā chénggōng zuì zhòngyào de yīnsù.
Honesty was the most important factor in his success.
他既诚实又勤劳，而他的弟弟正好相反。
Tā jì chéngshí yòu qínláo, ér tā de dìdi zhènghǎo xiāngfǎn.
He is honest and hardworking, but his brother is quite otherwise.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 诚 (chéng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 诚 and 盛?
How many strokes does 诚 have?
What is the radical of 诚?
What are the components of 诚?
What are common words containing 诚?
What characters sound the same as 诚 (chéng)?
Is 诚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 诚 with real-time feedback
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