信托 (xìn tuō) — to entrust; to trust (with property or assets in a financial/legal arrangement)

Definition

信托 (xìntuō) is the legal/financial term 'to entrust assets to a trustee' — more institutional than the everyday 委托 wěituō, which is a casual request to handle a task. The 把-construction is common when naming the property entrusted.

verb
to entrustto trust (with property or assets in a financial/legal arrangement)

Examples

  • 信托。
    Tā bǎ zhè bǐ qián xìn tuō gěi le yín háng.
    He entrusted this sum of money to the bank.
  • 信托。
    Hěn duō rén tōng guò xìn tuō lái guǎn lǐ cái chǎn.
    Many people use trusts to manage their assets.
  • 信托。
    Tā men jué dìng xìn tuō zhuān yè jī gòu chǔ lǐ yí chǎn.
    They decided to entrust a professional institution to handle the inheritance.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

信xìntrust
托tuōentrust

The meanings 信 trust and 托 entrust combine to mean entrusting or trusting.

Characters in this word

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 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
乇
乇tuō托tuō
Same sound today

托 is built from 手 (hand) and 乇, which gives the sound tuō.

Open 托 →
Appears in
Finance & Banking

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