(xìn): believe, letter

(xìn) is a Chinese character meaning “believe, letter.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #176 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. believe, letter

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbxiāng xìnto believe3
xìn xīinformation4
verbxìn rènto trust5
nounxìn hàosignal4
verb/noun/adjectivezì xìnto have confidence in oneself4
nounxìn xīnconfidence4
nounxìn yòng kǎcredit card3
nounxìn niànfaith6
nounduǎn xìntext message4
nounxìn fēngenvelope5
verbtōng xìnto correspond (by letter, email etc)6
xìn làito trust6
nounxìn yòngtrustworthiness5
verb/nounhuí xìnto reply4
adjectivechéng xìnhonesty6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
què xìnto be convinced
xiě xìnto write a letter
jiān xìnto believe firmly
lái xìnincoming letter
xìn jiànletter (sent by mail)
kǒu xìnoral message
kě xìntrustworthy
xìn túbeliever
mí xìnsuperstition
xìn shǒuto abide by
xìn fèngbelief
xìn fúto have faith in
shēn xìnto believe firmly
xìn tiáocreed
使xìn shǐmessenger
100
Total compounds
43
As first character
57
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 43 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yǎng
0.746285,104 co-occurrences
0.698402,902 co-occurrences
0.55294,440 co-occurrences
zōng
0.492118,650 co-occurrences
jìn
0.47415,138 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.472213,502 co-occurrences
fèng
0.46544,352 co-occurrences
hào
0.460128,914 co-occurrences
tōng
0.441182,592 co-occurrences
dài
0.4396,210 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (16)

bànxìn-bànyíHSK 4+

half-believing, half-doubting; not quite convinced

phrase
bèixìnqìyìHSK 5+

to break the faith and disregard righteousness; to act perfidiously; perfidious, treacherous; treachery, perfidy

phrase
diànzǐ xìnxiāngHSK 3+

electronic mailbox; e-mailbox; inbox

noun
jiāngxìn-jiāngyíHSK 4+

to take with a pinch of salt; to be doubtful; to be not quite convinced

phrase
miǎo wú yīn xìnHSK 7+

to receive no news whatsoever about sb

phrase
nányǐzhìxìnHSK 5+

unbelievable; incredible

phrase
piān tīng piān xìnHSK 7+

selective listening; to hear what one wants to hear

phrase
shànnán xìnnǚHSK 5+

devotees or followers of Buddhism, later extended to Taoism and other Chinese traditions

noun
shēnxìnbùyíHSK 4+

to firmly believe without any doubt

phrase
suí xìn fù shàngHSK 4+

enclosed with (this) letter

phrase
wēi xìn sǎo dìHSK 5+

to lose every scrap of reputation

phrase
wéi xìn bèi yuēHSK 5+

in violation of contract and good faith

phrase

Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请相我们的专业能力,这个项目一定会按时完成。

Qǐng xiāngxìn wǒmen de zhuānyè nénglì, zhè gè xiàngmù yídìng huì ànshí wánchéng.

Please believe in our professional capabilities; this project will definitely be completed on time.

百度新闻Feb 2026

联合国:收到伊朗来 对地区紧张局势深表关切

lián gě guó : shōu dào yī lǎng lái xìn duì dì qū jǐn zhāng jú shì shēn biǎo guān qiē

United Nations: Received a letter from Iran expressing deep concern about regional tensions

百度新闻Feb 2026

“新春走基层”为了不失联的

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng wéi le bù shī lián de xìn hào

"New Year to the grassroots" is a signal not to lose contact

百度新闻Feb 2026

2025年收获满满,山东息职业技术学院向合作单位..

nián shōu huò mǎn mǎn , shān dōng xìn xī zhí yè jì shù xué yuàn xiàng gě zuò shàn wèi . .

2025: A Year of Abundant Harvests Shandong Information Vocational College extends its gratitude to partner institutions...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节新功能!微又上新了

chūn jié xīn gōng néng ! wēi xìn yòu shǎng xīn le

New Spring Festival Features! WeChat has rolled out more updates.

百度新闻Feb 2026

不只是相“相的力量”——速滑团体追逐夺牌的背后

bù zhī shì xiāng xìn xiāng xìn de lì liáng sù huá tuán tī zhuī zhú duó pái de bēi hòu

Beyond Believing in the Power of Belief: The Story Behind the Speed Skating Team Pursuit's Medal Run

Tatoeba

这封是玛丽写的吗?

Zhè fēng xìn shì Mǎlì xiě de ma?

Was this letter written by Mary?

Tatoeba

可以帮我寄这封吗?

Kěyǐ bāng wǒ jì zhè fēng xìn ma?

Would you mind mailing this letter for me?

Tatoeba

我需要写一封。你有纸吗?

Wǒ xūyào xiě yī fēng xìn. nǐ yǒu zhǐ ma?

I have to write a letter. Do you have some paper?

Tatoeba

我应该回给他吗?

Wǒ yīnggāi huíxìn gěi tā ma?

Should I reply to his letter?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xìn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 信 (xìn) mean in Chinese?
信 (xìn) primarily means "believe, letter." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #176 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 信 have?
信 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 信?
The radical associated with 信 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 信?
信 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 言 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻言 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 信?
Common words with 信 include: 相信 (xiāng xìn, "to believe"); 信息 (xìn xī, "information"); 信任 (xìn rèn, "to trust"); 信号 (xìn hào, "signal"); 确信 (què xìn, "to be convinced"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 信 (xìn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xìn: 心 (heart, mind), 芯 ((bound form) the pith of the rush plant (used as a lampwick)), 辛 ((of taste) hot or pungent), 欣 (happy), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 信 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 信 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.