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信以為真

简信以为真 · 繁信以為真

Mandarin · pinyin xìn yǐ wéi zhēn

to take sth to be true

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Characters in this entry

信: xìn · trust, believe; letter
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
為: Look up this written character
真: zhēn · real, actual, true, genuine
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · xin4 yi3 wei2 zhen1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

信以為真 · find source passages ↗ · 信以为真 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to take (something) to be true

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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