信仰
Meaning in Englishreligious faith, belief
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
信仰 (shinkou) means a settled commitment to a set of spiritual or religious convictions; it describes both an inward conviction and the practices or loyalties that follow from that conviction, whether in organized religion or personal spirituality.
Main meanings
- 1. A formal system of doctrine or organized religion as something one adheres to.
- 2. Personal piety or intensity of devotion, emphasizing practice and reverence rather than mere assent.
- 3. Secular extension: strong adherence to non-religious ideologies or causes described metaphorically as a kind of "faith."
- 4. When used in verb constructions with する, the nuance shifts to the act of practicing or adhering to a faith.
How to use it
Common in formal, academic, legal, and religious contexts to discuss someone's religion, the concept of religious freedom, or levels of devotion; it is more formal than everyday verbs for "believe," and is often used when talking about identity, institutional affiliation, or doctrinal adherence rather than casual belief.
Variants and close terms
- 信念 (shinnen): conviction, firmly held belief
- 信条 (shinjou): creed, tenet
- 信じる (shinjiru): to believe (verb, related but grammatical different)
- 信仰心 (shinkoushin): piety, religious feeling
- 無神論 (mushinron): atheism (antonym in religious context)
Composition
- 信 (shin): trust, believe; denotes reliance and acceptance.
- 仰 (kou): look up, revere; carries a sense of looking toward or honoring something higher.
Origin
The compound is a Sino-Japanese vocabulary item introduced via classical Chinese; it appears in Buddhist and Confucian discourse in medieval Japan and was further standardized in modern Japanese as translations and legal discussions of religion expanded in the early modern and Meiji periods.
Word class
noun (名詞)