失信 (shī xìn) — to break one's promise; to lose credibility

Definition

失信 means to break one's promise or lose credibility — a more formal, written alternative to 说话不算数. Often used in legal or business contexts (e.g., 失信被执行人 'person on the dishonesty blacklist').

verb
to break one's promiseto lose credibility
Easily confused

Examples

  • 失信，。
    Tā yīn wèi duō cì shī xìn, yǐ jīng méi yǒu péng you yuàn yì bāng tā.
    Because he broke his promise many times, no friend is willing to help him anymore.
  • ，。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī céng jīng shī guò yí cì xìn, hòu lái kè hù dōu pǎo le.
    This company once broke its promise, and later all the customers left.
  • 失信，。
    Yí dàn shī xìn, jiù hěn nán zài huò dé bié rén de xìn rèn.
    Once you lose credibility, it's very hard to regain others' trust.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

失shīlose
信xìntrust

失 means lose and 信 means trust, so the word describes losing trust by breaking a promise.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánwords
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén信xìn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

信 pairs 人 as the sound part with 言 (words) as the meaning part.

Open 信 →

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