拧 (níng): to pinch, wring, mistake

拧 (níng) is a Chinese character meaning “to pinch.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 宁 (phonetic). It ranks #2836 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 拧 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to pinch
  2. wring
  3. mistake

Etymology & Origin

拧

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌宁 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 拧 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
拧成一股绳níng chéng yī gǔ shéngto twist (strands) together to form a rope
胳膊拧不过大腿gē bo nǐng bu guò dà tuǐ(idiom) the weak cannot overcome the strong
拧开nǐng kāito unscrew
满拧mǎn nǐngtotally inconsistent
拧巴verbnǐng ba(dialect) awkward
5
Total compounds
60
As first character
20
As last character
20
As middle character

拧 appears in 5 compound words: 60 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 拧 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

紧jǐn
0.537148 co-occurrences
螺luó
0.53091 co-occurrences
盲máng
0.49244 co-occurrences
丝sī
0.47379 co-occurrences
钉dīng
0.46512 co-occurrences
脖bó
0.46212 co-occurrences
绳shéng
0.44816 co-occurrences
阀fá
0.43912 co-occurrences
瓶píng
0.37712 co-occurrences
阶jiē
0.33514 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请拧出你的证件,配合我们的工作。

qǐng níng chū nǐ de zhèng jiàn , pèi gě wǒ men de gōng zuò .

Please present your identification and cooperate with our work.

爱范儿Aug 2026

真正拧紧一颗螺丝、把插头稳定送进接口,还依赖关节精度、灵巧手、触觉和力控。

zhēn zhèng níng jǐn yī kē luó sī , bǎ chā tóu wěn dìng sòng jìn jiē kǒu , hái yī lài guān jié jīng dù , líng qiǎo shǒu , chù jué hé lì kòng .

Properly tightening a screw or securely inserting a plug into a socket also depends on joint precision, dexterity, tactile sensation, and force control.

少数派Aug 2026

这并不仅仅是为了“更快地拧螺丝”,更是为了保存体力。

zhè bìng bù jǐn jǐn shì wéi le gēng kuài dì níng luó sī , gēng shì wéi le bǎo cún tǐ lì .

This isn't just about "turning screws faster"; it's also about conserving energy.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

用事实说话,大家的思想就这样一点一点拧成了一股绳。

yòng shì shí shuō huà , dà jiā de sī xiǎng jiù zhè yàng yī diǎn yī diǎn níng chéng le yī gǔ shéng .

Let the facts speak for themselves—and little by little, everyone’s thoughts were brought into alignment.

少数派Jul 2026

调整时切记不要一下拧得太猛。

diào zhěng shí qiē jì bù yāo yī xià níng dé tài měng .

When making adjustments, be sure not to tighten it too much at once.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

健康主题馆/长者肌少症 拧不干毛巾是警讯

jiàn kāng zhǔ tí guǎn cháng zhě jī shǎo zhèng níng bù gān máo jīn shì jǐng xùn

Health Theme Hall/Sarcopenia in the Elderly Unable to wring out the towel is a warning sign

Tatoeba

汤姆拧干毛巾挂起来晾干。

Tāngmǔ níng gān máojīn guàqǐlái liànggān.

Tom wrung out the towel and hung it up to dry.

Tatoeba

现在你只要拧紧螺丝,就大功告成了。

Xiànzài nǐ zhǐyào níng jǐn luósī, jiù dàgōnggàochéng le.

Now all you have to do is tighten the screw, and Bob's your uncle.

Tatoeba

用拧檬汁代替醋。

Yòng níng méng zhī dàitì cù.

Use lemon juice instead of vinegar.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced níng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 拧 (níng) mean in Chinese?
拧 (níng) primarily means "to pinch." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2836 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 拧 have?
拧 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 拧?
The radical associated with 拧 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 拧?
拧 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 宁 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌宁 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 拧?
Common words with 拧 include: 拧成一股绳 (níng chéng yī gǔ shéng, "to twist (strands) together to form a rope"); 胳膊拧不过大腿 (gē bo nǐng bu guò dà tuǐ, "(idiom) the weak cannot overcome the strong"); 拧开 (nǐng kāi, "to unscrew"); 满拧 (mǎn nǐng, "totally inconsistent"); 拧巴 (nǐng ba, "(dialect) awkward"). There are over 5 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 拧 (níng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation níng: 柠 (used in 檸檬|柠檬), 宁 (peaceful), 凝 (to congeal). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 拧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 拧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 拧 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.