HSK 4 · Adjectives

诚实 chéngshí “honest” in Chinese

Traditional 誠實

What 诚实 means

  1. honest

How to say 诚实

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale诚chéng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale实shí2nd tone, rising

诚实 in a sentence

  1. 我相信你是诚实的。

    Wǒ xiāngxìn nǐ shì chéngshí de.

    I believe you’re honest.

    Sentence #2037336 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他非常诚实，所以我们可以依赖他。

    Tā fēicháng chéngshí, suǒyǐ wǒmen kěyǐ yīlài tā.

    He’s very honest, so we can rely on him.

    Sentence #2335942 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 要一直诚实是不容易的。

    Yào yìzhí chéngshí shì bù róngyì de.

    It isn’t easy to be honest all the time.

    Sentence #798240 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 诚实 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 诚 (chéng) with each of its parts in a different colour
诚chéngsincere; authentic
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 成to accomplish · chéngSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 成 (chéng) hints at the sound. Compare it with chéng.

The character 实 (shí) with each of its parts in a different colour
实shíreal
  • 宀roof · mián
  • 头head · tóu

Memory aidSimplified from 實, a house 宀 full of strings of coins: solid, real.

How to write 诚实

诚 8 strokes · 实 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

诚实 (chéngshí) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 诚实 (chéngshí). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 诚实

Words with 诚

诚恳chéngkěn · sincere诚挚chéngzhì · sincere忠诚zhōngchéng · loyal

Words with 实

其实qíshí · actually实际shíjì · actual确实quèshí · indeed实在shízài · really实际上shíjìshàng · in fact果实guǒshí · fruit (of a plant)实话shíhuà · truth实现shíxiàn · to achieve结实jiēshi · sturdy老实lǎoshi · honest

More words: Adjectives

安全ānquán · safe棒bàng · great笨bèn · stupid标准biāozhǔn · standard粗心cūxīn · careless低dī · low丰富fēngfù · to enrich复杂fùzá · complicated

FAQs

诚实 (chéngshí) means “honest”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it chéngshí: chéng with a 2nd tone, then shí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 诚实 is written 誠實. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chengshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 诚实 from the suggestions. Typing chengshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
诚实 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.