宁 (níng): peaceful, 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
宁 (níng) is a Chinese character meaning “peaceful.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (semantic) and 丁 (phonetic). It ranks #1018 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 宁 roof. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).
Definitions
- peaceful
- 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
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 宁 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 宁愿adverb | nìng yuàn | would rather ... (than ...) |
| 宁可adverb | nìng kě | preferably |
| 安宁adjective | ān níng | peaceful |
| 宁静adjective | níng jìng | tranquil |
| 心神不宁 | xīn shén bù níng | to feel ill at ease |
| 列宁proper-noun | liè níng | Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), Russian revolutionary leader |
| 奎宁noun | kuí níng | quinine (loanword) |
| 唐宁街proper-noun | táng níng jiē | Downing Street (London) |
| 宁肯adverb | nìng kěn | would rather... |
| 贝宁proper-noun | bèi níng | Benin |
| 宁波proper-noun | níng bō | see 寧波市|宁波市 |
| 宁安proper-noun | níng ān | see 寧安市|宁安市 |
| 勃朗宁 | bó lǎng níng | Browning, US firearm brand |
| 海宁proper-noun | hǎi níng | see 海寧市|海宁市 |
| 毋宁 | wú nìng | not as good as |
宁 appears in 101 compound words: 30 as the first character, 63 as the last, and 7 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 宁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (9)
Leningrad; Leningrad (an oblast of Russia, surrounding the city of Saint Petersburg)
Leningrad; Leningrad (an oblast of Russia, surrounding the city of Saint Petersburg)
Showing 7 of 9 idioms containing 宁.
Example Sentences
宁字由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.
消除“黄牌”警告:广宁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
39小时千里护航 南宁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
用金牌当屏保,宁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
大看台|从郑钦文到宁忠岩: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:
冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁忠岩家乡..
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:
与其向命运妥协，我宁可自杀。
Yǔqí xiàng mìngyùn tuǒxié, wǒ nìngkě zìshā.
I would rather kill myself than reconcile myself to my fate.
宁为猫头不为狮尾。
Nìng wèi māo tóu bù wèi shī wěi.
Better be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion.
格罗宁根方言是方言还是语言？
Géluónínggēn fāngyán shì fāngyán háishi yǔyán?
Is Gronings a language or a dialect?
加里宁格勒旧称为哥尼斯堡。
Jiālǐnínggélè jiùchēng wèi Gēnísībǎo.
Kaliningrad was once called Koenigsberg.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 宀 (roof) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 宁 (níng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 宁 and 打?
How many strokes does 宁 have?
What is the radical of 宁?
What are the components of 宁?
What are common words containing 宁?
What characters sound the same as 宁 (níng)?
Is 宁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 宁 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.