凭信
píng​xìn

trust

凭 píng lean on Simplified

Leaning on (trusting) 任 a table 几

Components

任
任 Meaning component
rèn responsibility
几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbrɯŋ
brɯŋs
Unicodebhiəng
bhiə̀ng

說文解字

依几也。从几从任。《周書》：“凭玉几。”讀若馮。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

信 xìn trust

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

Components

亻
亻 SoundMeaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound
言
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsinHs-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)

憑 píng lean on Traditional

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

Components

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
馮
馮 Sound component
surname

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbing[b]rəŋlean on
Zhengzhangbɯŋ
Unicodebhiəng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang