(nìng): abbr. for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 寧夏回族自治區|宁夏回族自治区, abbr. for Nanjing 南京, peaceful

(nìng) is a Chinese character meaning “abbr. for ningxia hui autonomous region 寧夏回族自治區|宁夏回族自治区.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1018 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, roof. Its radical form (roof) appears in many related characters such as (, guest, customer), (jiā, home, family), (, it).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. abbr. for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 寧夏回族自治區|宁夏回族自治区
  2. abbr. for Nanjing 南京
  3. peaceful

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticroof

Decomposition: ⿱宀丁 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
nìng yuànwould rather ... (than ...)
nìng kěpreferably
ān níngpeaceful
níng jìngtranquil
liè níngVladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), Russian revolutionary leader
kuí níngquinine (loanword)
nìng kěnwould rather...
bèi níngBenin
níng bōsee 寧波市|宁波市[Ning2 bo1 Shi4]
níng ānsee 寧安市|宁安市[Ning2 an1 Shi4]
bó lǎng níngBrowning, US firearm brand
hǎi níngsee 海寧市|海宁市[Hai3 ning2 Shi4]
wú nìngnot as good as
níng désee 寧德市|宁德市[Ning2 de2 Shi4]
dān níng suāntannic acid (loanword)
100
Total compounds
30
As first character
61
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 30 as the first character, 61 as the last, and 9 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

liáo
0.74286,224 co-occurrences
0.54167,386 co-occurrences
0.5106,294 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.49851,552 co-occurrences
xià
0.48932,166 co-occurrences
shěng
0.47054,126 co-occurrences
xián
0.4557,026 co-occurrences
gān
0.44910,428 co-occurrences
jìng
0.4426,126 co-occurrences
shì
0.41662,202 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

jīquǎnbùníngHSK 7+

everyone is nervous; great disturbance or turmoil

phrase
LiènínggélèHSK 7+

Leningrad; Leningrad (an oblast of Russia, surrounding the city of Saint Petersburg)

Lièníng zhǔyìHSK 7+

Leninism

noun
nìngsǐbùqūHSK 7+

to rather die than capitulate

phrase
xīshìníngrénHSK 7+

to end a dispute or conflict and calm the people down

phrase
zuòwòbùníngHSK 7+

to be unable to sit down or sleep at ease; to be restless

phrase

Showing 6 of 8 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字由5笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

nìng zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "宁" consists of five strokes and has a very clever structure.

Vietnam+Feb 2026

消除“黄牌”警告:广省提前完成渔船捕捞许可发放工作

xiāo chú huáng pái jǐng gào : guǎng nìng shěng tí qián wán chéng yú chuán bǔ lāo xǔ kě fā fàng gōng zuò

Eliminate "yellow card" warning: Quang Ninh province has completed the issuance of fishing vessel fishing licenses ahead of schedule

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

39小时千里护航 南铁警守护返岗务工专列

3 9 xiǎo shí qiān lǐ hù háng nán nìng tiě jǐng shǒu hù fǎn gǎng wù gōng zhuān liè

39 hours of thousands of miles escort Nanning Railway Police guard the special train for returning migrant workers

百度新闻Feb 2026

用金牌当屏保,忠岩不过是把冷板凳坐热

yòng jīn pái dāng bǐng bǎo , nìng zhōng yán bù guò shì bǎ lěng bǎn dèng zuò rè

Using the gold medal as a screensaver, Ning Zhongyan is just sitting on the cold bench to heat up

百度新闻Feb 2026

大看台|从郑钦文到忠岩:冲破欧美垄断 镌刻东方印..

dà kàn tái cóng zhèng qīn wén dào nìng zhōng yán : chōng pò ōu měi lǒng duàn 镌 kè dōng fāng yìn . .

From Zheng Qinwen to Ning Zhongyan: Breaking through the monopoly of Europe and the United States and engraved the Oriental Seal:

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——忠岩家乡..

dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . .

Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown:

Tatoeba

与其向命运妥协,我可自杀。

Yǔqí xiàng mìngyùn tuǒxié, wǒ nìngkě zìshā.

I would rather kill myself than reconcile myself to my fate.

Tatoeba

为猫头不为狮尾。

Nìng wèi māo tóu bù wèi shī wěi.

Better be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion.

Tatoeba

格罗根方言是方言还是语言?

Géluónínggēn fāngyán shì fāngyán háishi yǔyán?

Is Gronings a language or a dialect?

Tatoeba

加里格勒旧称为哥尼斯堡。

Jiālǐnínggélè jiùchēng wèi Gēnísībǎo.

Kaliningrad was once called Koenigsberg.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced nìng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宁 (nìng) mean in Chinese?
宁 (nìng) primarily means "abbr. for ningxia hui autonomous region 寧夏回族自治區|宁夏回族自治区." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1018 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 宁 and 灯?
宁 (nìng) and 灯 (dēng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 宀 vs 火 (same 丁 component).
How many strokes does 宁 have?
宁 is written with 5 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 宁?
The radical associated with 宁 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宁?
宁 is composed of: 宀 (semantic), 丁 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀丁 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宁?
Common words with 宁 include: 宁愿 (nìng yuàn, "would rather ... (than ...)"); 宁可 (nìng kě, "preferably"); 安宁 (ān níng, "peaceful"); 宁静 (níng jìng, "tranquil"); 列宁 (liè níng, "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), Russian revolutionary leader"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 宁 (nìng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation nìng: 拧 (to pinch), 凝 (to congeal). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 宁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.