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Faith

On’yomiしん
MeaningsFaith, Truth, Fidelity, Trust
JLPT N3 9 strokes #207 most common Grade 4 Radical man
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 信

Stroke order is not decoration — it determines how the character looks handwritten and how dictionaries index it.

9 strokes
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Draw it on screen and be marked on stroke order and direction.

分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 信

Almost every kanji is built from a small set of reusable parts. Learn the parts once and you stop memorising thousands of unrelated shapes.

部首 · Radical

The radical of 信

Radical 9 of 214
Man

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 信 is filed under (man) — radical number 9 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 人

練習 · Practice

Drill 信 right now

Three quick games built from this character's real data. Your streak is kept in this browser.

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Faith しん
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 信

Kanji are almost never met alone. These are the most common words built from this character, ordered by how often they actually appear in Japanese.

通信 つうしん correspondence; communication; transmission
自信 じしん self-confidence; confidence (in oneself)
不信 ふしん distrust; mistrust; disbelief
信用 しんよう confidence; trust; faith
信頼 しんらい trust (in); confidence; faith
信託 しんたく trust; entrusting; leaving in someone's trust
不信任 ふしんにん non-confidence; lack of confidence
信号 しんごう signal; signalling; signaling
魚信 あたり hit; success; guess
受信 じゅしん receiving (a message, letter, email, etc.); reception (radio, TV, etc.)
名乗り · Name readings

How 信 is read in names

Japanese names use readings that appear nowhere else in the language. These are 信's — the reason personal and place names are so hard to read even for native speakers.

しがしなしのしぶときのびのぶ
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 信

Japanese has far more kanji than syllables, so one reading is shared by many characters. These are the ones you will confuse with 信 — learn them together, not separately.

地名 · In place names

Japanese towns written with 信

Place names are where kanji readings get strange — and where you meet this character in the wild.

画数 · 9 strokes

Other 9-stroke kanji

Useful when looking a character up by stroke count — and a common source of visual mix-ups.

頻度 · Frequency

Next in the frequency list

信 is the 207th most common kanji in written Japanese. Learning in frequency order is the fastest route to reading real text.

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質問 · Questions

About the kanji 信

What does the kanji 信 mean?

信 means Faith, Truth, Fidelity, Trust. It is the 207th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 信?

信 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) しん.

How many strokes does 信 have?

信 is written with 9 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 信?

It appears at JLPT level N3, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 4.

What is the radical of 信?

The radical of 信 is 人 (man), radical number 9 of the 214 Kangxi radicals. The radical is the component a dictionary files the character under, and it usually points at the character's meaning.

What parts is the kanji 信 made of?

信 is built from 亻 (radical number 9) and 言 (say). Learning kanji as combinations of a few hundred reusable components is far more efficient than memorising each character as a separate shape.

What words use the kanji 信?

Common words written with 信 include 通信 (つうしん, correspondence; communication; transmission); 自信 (じしん, self-confidence; confidence (in oneself)); 不信 (ふしん, distrust; mistrust; disbelief).

Which kanji sound the same as 信?

信 shares a reading with 新 (しん), 進 (しん), 心 (しん), 参 (しん), 真 (しん), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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