The Chinese word 信用 (xìnyòng, "credit; trustworthiness") is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: 信 (xìn, "trust; belief; faith") and 用 (yòng, "to use; utility"). Conceptually, it describes the idea of "trust being put to use" or "the utility derived from one's trustworthiness", where societal or financial trust is actively utilized, such as in granting loans or credibility. This formation reflects a common pattern in Chinese where abstract nouns are created by pairing a core concept (信, trust) with a functional or operational character (用, use) to express a complex, actionable quality.