It's almost Halloween again, so before I set out my カボチャ提灯 (kabocha chōchin, jack-o'-lantern), I thought the time is right to take up the topic of 迷信 (meishin, superstition). The first character is 迷, meaning lost or puzzled, made by combining the phonetic 米 (alternatively read mai, mei, bei, kome and yone, and meaning "rice") with 辶 (shinnyō, the classifier for motion). Its verb form is 迷う (mayō).
The second character is 信 (shin, meaning to trust, believe or to have faith in), formed by 亻 (ninben, the person classifier), and 言 (gen, speech). So taken in context the characters mean "confused beliefs."
A superstitious person is said to be 迷信深い (meishinbukai). The mei in meishin appears in numerous compounds, such as 迷路 (meiro, "confusing road," i.e., a maze); 迷子 (maigo, a lost child); 迷彩 (meisai, "confusing color," i.e., camouflage); and 迷惑 (meiwaku, annoyance).