Genuine in Chinese / Japanese...

zhēn

shin / makoto

진

真 is a simple way to express the idea that something is real, true, truth or genuine.

Occasionally, this character is used to refer to a Buddhist sect that originated in the 13th century.

真 is commonly used as a compound with other characters to create ideas like "true love." It's also used like the English "really" or "truly," to say "really good" or "He is really knowledgeable." Those phrases start with "他真的是..." (note second character is this one).

There are two ways to write this character, shown here is the most common way in China; however, a slight stroke variation is used in Korean Hanja. If you want that version, just let us know when you place your order.

See Also:  Honesty

dǎ pà de rén shì jiǎ de jìng pà de rén shì zhēn de

This is a proverb that seems to be aimed at world leaders or others in power. Perhaps a suggestion to avoid the practice of "fear mongering" opting instead for a policy of benevolence and justice.

An example: When the Bush administration told Pakistan they could either join America in the "war on terror," or expect some bombs to be coming their way, Bush gained this kind of "less-than-genuine respect" from Pakistanis.
Leaders in places like North Korea and even Saudi Arabia reap the same bogus respect from their own citizens.

Note that calligraphers do not like to repeat the same characters in exactly the same way in the same piece of artwork. So expect the characters that are repeated to be written in different forms in the real artwork (unlike the way they are displayed to the left).

zhēn chéng

진성

真誠 is the true essence of sincerity. It takes strength of personality to be truly sincere without over-doing it. Speaking of strength, this is probably the strongest way to convey the idea of sincerity in the Chinese language without over-doing it.

The first character literally means true, real, and genuine. While the second character means sincere and honest.

See Also:  Love | Honor

shin jitsu no ai

真実の愛 means "true love" or "genuine affection" in Japanese.

The first two Kanji mean true, real, genuine, or authentic.
The third Kanji is a connecting possessive article.
The last character is love or affection.

zhēn xīn

mago koro

While these two characters literally read as "true heart" or "genuine heart," the understood meaning is sincerity, devotion, sincere, or heartfelt. Some will extend the meaning to be like, "true love." Basically, it's the idea of doing something or treating someone with genuine feelings.

真心 is valid and has the same meaning in both Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji.

Note: While not too common, this can be the female given name "Mami" in Japanese.

zhēn xiàng

shin sou

진상

Beyond "truth" in Chinese, this can also be used to say "the actual facts" or "genuine" depending on context.

This also means "truth" in Japanese, just not as commonly used.

See Also:  Honesty

zhēn niú

真牛 is Chinese slang for something really cool or awesome.

真牛 is probably not appropriate for a calligraphy wall scroll unless you have a specific reason.

This literally translates as "the real bull" or "the genuine cow."

sei jitsu

誠實 is the Japanese version of integrity which can also be defined as a combination of "sincere, honest and faithful."

Some may also define this as "loyal" or "loyalty." In some context, it can mean "genuine." Yes, all of this meaning in just one Japanese word!

zhēn wàng

真妄 is a specifically Buddhist term that means, "reality and illusion." Out of Buddhist context, it might be read as, "The real and the absurd."

Separately, the first character means real, true, and genuine, and the second character means absurd, fantastic, or related to fantasy.

zhēn ài

shinai

진애

真愛 is literally "True Love" in Chinese.

The first character means "real," "true" and "genuine." The second character means "love" and "affection."

During the customization of your calligraphy wall scroll, there is a place to add an inscription. You might want that inscription to be your names in Chinese down the side of your wall scroll, or perhaps just below these two main characters (just $9 extra). A nice gift to celebrate an anniversary or marriage!