Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 宁可

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
宁可 nìng kě - preferably
- one would prefer to...(or not to...)
- would rather
- (would) be better to
- (to pick) the lesser of two evils

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
5 7 5,505 10,967 6,204

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
zhù- to store
- to stand
- space between the door and the entrance screen
nìng- old variant of 寧|宁[ning4]
níng- abbr. for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 寧夏回族自治區|宁夏回族自治区[Ning2xia4 Hui2zu2 Zi4zhi4qu1]
- abbr. for Nanjing 南京[Nan2jing1]
- surname Ning
níng- peaceful
- to pacify
- to visit (one's parents etc)
nìng- would rather
- to prefer
- how (emphatic)
- Taiwan pr. [ning2]
níng- variant of 寧|宁[ning2]
- (prefix) can; may; able to; -able
- to approve; to permit
- to suit
- (particle used for emphasis) certainly; very
- but; however
- used in 可汗[ke4 han2]

Other Words Containing 宁可

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
宁可 5 7 5,505 10,967 6,204