宁 (níng) — (adv.) would rather; (adv., literary) could there be; surely not (in rhetorical questions)
Definition
Literary adverb meaning 'would rather' (宁可/宁愿) in a preference construction, as in 宁为玉碎不为瓦全. The second sense — used in rhetorical questions to mean 'surely not' / 'could it be that…?' — is even more formal and archaic.
adverb
(adv.) would rather(adv., literary) could there besurely not (in rhetorical questions)
Examples
- ，。Wǒ níng kě è sǐ, yě bù chī nà zhǒng dōng xī.I would rather starve to death than eat that kind of thing.
- ，。Tā níng yuàn yí gè rén chéng dān zé rèn, yě bù lián lèi bié rén.He would rather take responsibility alone than implicate others.
- 宁，。níng Wéi yù suì, bù wéi wǎ quán.Better to be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile (idiom: prefer noble failure to ignoble survival).
Appears in
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.