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

HSK 4

把毛巾拧干。

Bǎ máojīn nǐng gān.

Wring out the towel.

HSK 4

把瓶盖拧开。

Bǎ pínggài nǐng kāi.

Twist open the bottle cap.

HSK 4

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.