电信

• Pinyin: diàn xìn
• Hanzi breakdown: 电 = 雨 + 申 (electricity); 信 = 亻+ 言 (message, trustworthy communication)

Meaning

Telecommunications; the transmission of information over distances via electronic means such as telephone, internet, or radio.

Encompasses the entire telecommunications industry and infrastructure: 电信运营商 (telecom operators), 电信设备 (telecom equipment), and 电信诈骗 (telecom fraud). Also the name of China's largest state-owned telecom company, China Telecom (中国电信).

Examples

1. 电信行业的快速发展为偏远山区的居民提供了前所未有的互联网接入机会，显著改善了当地的信息获取条件。 The rapid growth of the telecom industry has provided residents in remote mountain areas with unprecedented access to the internet, greatly improving their ability to get information.
2. 有关部门呼吁公众提高警惕，严防以冒充银行客服为手段的新型电信诈骗。 Relevant authorities urged the public to stay alert and guard against new types of telecom fraud that impersonate bank customer service.
3. 该跨国电信集团在全球七十余个国家和地区布局了广泛的通信基础设施，是全球最具影响力的电信企业之一。 This multinational telecom group has built extensive communications infrastructure in over seventy countries and regions, making it one of the world’s most influential telecom companies.

Usage Guide

Context: industry, technology, fraud prevention, business

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 国家监管机构宣布将对三大电信运营商实施新一轮反垄断审查，重点评估其在宽带市场上的定价行为是否损害了消费者权益。(The national regulatory authority announced that it would conduct a new round of anti-monopoly reviews of the three major telecom operators, focusing on whether their pricing practices in the broadband market harm consumer interests.)
• 电信诈骗犯罪团伙利用境外服务器和虚假号码实施精准诈骗，给无数家庭造成了难以挽回的经济损失。(Telecom fraud criminal gangs use overseas servers and spoofed numbers to carry out precisely targeted scams, causing irreversible financial losses to countless families.)

Don't Say

• 电信通信 — redundant; 电信 already implies telecommunications communication; choose 电信 or 通信 depending on whether the context is industry-specific or general

Origin & History

电 (electricity) + 信 (message, communication) — electrical communication; telecommunications

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal