We’re happy to bring you free Chinese lessons. This series dives into idioms and proverbs, meaningful and practical. Today’s phrase is 「半疑半信」, with its usage explained below.
In this introduction, we explore the idiom 「半疑半信」. Its definition and ways to use it are shown below.
A little skeptical, but also a little believing. It means that one is not sure about the truth or falsehood.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
bàn yí bàn xìn
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
bun3 yi4 bun3 seun3
Chinese idioms are incredibly numerous, each carrying a special meaning and usage. This variety is a great reason to study them, and we hope these tools make that easier for you.

