信心
xìnxīn · HSK 2
confidence
🤝 信 (trust) + 心 (heart) = trust-heart, i.e. confidence
信 combines 人 (person) + 言 (speech): a person's word, hence trust. 心 is the heart radical. Together 信心 literally reads trust-heart, the inner conviction we call confidence or belief.
信 — person 亻 + speech 言
信 combines 亻(person) with 言(speech), depicting a person standing by their words. The original sense is 'truthfulness' or 'sincerity'—what a person says can be trusted. From this it extended to 'believe,' 'trust,' and later 'message' or 'letter,' since a letter carries one's word.
心 — pictograph of a heart with chambers and aorta
心 is a pictograph showing a stylized heart, with strokes representing the organ's chambers and the aorta at the top. Originally meaning the physical heart, it broadened to cover mind, feelings, and intentions, since ancient Chinese thought located thinking and emotion in the heart.