信用卡
xìnyòngkǎ · HSK 2
credit card
💳 信用卡 = trust + use + card (信 trust, 用 use, 卡 card)
信 means trust or credit, 用 means to use, and 卡 is a phonetic loan from English card (kǎ). Together: a card you use on credit/trust — a credit card.
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.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.
卡 — 上 (up) + 下 (down)
卡 is a modern compound formed by stacking 上 'up' on 下 'down', visually depicting something stuck between two positions — neither up nor down. From this 'wedged' image come its core meanings: to block, to get stuck, and a checkpoint or card. The reading kǎ also transcribes foreign words like 'card', while qiǎ keeps the older 'pinch/stuck' sense.