拧 (nǐng): to twist; to wring out

Meanings

1 to twist; to wring out
2 to screw (on or off)
3 wrong; at odds; mixed up

Characters

拧

nǐng

to twist; to wring

Examples

把毛巾拧干。

Bǎ máojīn nǐng gān.

Wring out the towel.

把瓶盖拧开。

Bǎ pínggài nǐng kāi.

Twist open the bottle cap.

他们俩越说越拧。

Tāmen liǎ yuè shuō yuè nǐng.

The two of them argued until they were completely at odds.

Tips

mistakes

Three readings with different meanings. nǐng = to twist, wring, or screw, and by extension 'at odds / mixed up' (弄拧了). níng = to pinch and twist someone's skin (拧他一下). nìng = stubborn or contrary (这孩子真拧). nǐng is the most common and the HSK reading.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (left-form)

Left-side hand radical, the compressed form of 手 used along the left edge. It supplies the meaning: an action done with the hands. The character covers a tight family of grip-and-turn motions: twist, wring, pinch, screw. It joins 扭, 拽, and 捏 in the manual-action family.

phonetic

宁 níng

peaceful; rather

Right 宁 supplies the sound, an exact match for the level-tone reading níng (and nǐng / nìng in the other senses). 宁 itself shows a roof 宀 over 丁, picturing peace under shelter; that 'peaceful' meaning is incidental here, the right side is read purely for sound.