信念 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xìnniàn HSK5

conviction

xìn trust

Conveys trusting (信) what a person (人) says (言). 人 is also a sound component.

Components

亻 Sound Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound

信 and 亻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
信 *s-ni[ŋ]-s
亻 *ni[ŋ]

言 Meaning component

yán speech

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sinH	s-ni[ŋ]-s	truthful

說文解字

《說文》：“信，誠也。从人，从言，會意。，古文从言省。訃，古文信。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

niàn think of, ready

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 今 represents the sound.

Components

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

今 Sound component

jīn now

Change in sound

念 and 今 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
念 nemH
今 kim

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

捻鲶稔埝鯰唸

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nemH	nˤim-s	think of

說文解字

《說文》：“念，常思也。从心，今聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.927
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)