Taxonomy of meanings for 寧:　　

  • 寧 níng (OC: neeŋ MC: neŋ) 奴丁切 平 廣韻：【安也説文曰願詞也亦州名禹貢古西戎地秦爲北地郡亦爲豳州又爲寧州奴丁切九 】
    • PEACEFUL
      • nabsocialundisturbed peace and quiet
      • vadNserene; peaceful (SHU)
      • vadV(dwell) at peace
      • vifeel inwardly secure, feel at peace; be peaceful (as a year, or a state)
      • vi0eventpeace arises
      • vtoNfind one's peace in
      • vtoNcausative.reflex.自bring peace to
      • vtoNcausativemake peaceful, calm down; maintain peace in
      • vifigurativebecome calm, become sereneVK
      • vi0there was peaceDS
      • optative:well-wishing> VISIT
        • vtoNpay a polite visit (to wish someone well, often one's parents)
        • vt(oN)come to visit and wish the contextually determiante N well
        • religious> SACRIFICE
          • vttoN1.+prep+N2OBI: make a pacifying sacrifice concerning N1 at N2
    • grammaticalised> QUESTION PARTICLES
      • padSning4: DCD: 3.豈；難道。
      • padSopen questionquestion marker
    • PLACE NAMES
      • SURNAMES
      • 寧 nìng (OC: neeŋs MC: neŋ) 乃定切 去 廣韻：【邑名亦姓説文作寗所願也乃定切四 】
        • should rather> PREFER
          • vt[0]+V[0].postSwould rather; one should rather; I would rather (and not) [Note that occasionally this word does have an explicit first person pronoun, but pre-Qin usages are very few, while the usage become more common in Hanshu.]
          • vt+V[0]would rather do V
        • nìng WHY
          • padVread nìng: why? (i.e.: for no good reason)
        • HOW

        Additional information about 寧

        說文解字: 【寧】，願詞也。从丂、寍聲。 【奴丁切】

          Criteria
        • PEACEFUL

          1. The dominant general word for peacefulness is ān 安 (wēi 危 "in imminent danger"), but in addition the word also often has considerable philosophical depth and commonly refers to a deep state of unruffled inner serenity in harmony with the outer world.

          2. Píng 平 (ant. luàn 亂 "chaos") is prototypically an unruffled smooth surface, and the word refers to a state of harmonious tranquility, particularly in a community of people.

          3. Níng 寧 (ant. yáng 殃 "a totally disastrous state") refers to a state of affairs, primarily in a community of people, where disturbances have ceased.

          4. Yì 佚 / 逸 (ant. láo 勞 "engaged in exhausting effort") refers to restful peace of mind, typically after effort.

          5. Tián 恬 and dàn 淡 (all ant. dòng dàng 動蕩 "be all over the place) refer to serenity in an individual as cultivated, notoriously, by the Taoists.

          6. Jìng 靜 (ant. zào 躁 "flurried), is a state of mind in which one refuses to be rushed into any action and is fully at ease.

          7. Tài 泰 (all ant. jí 急 "be off balance or in urgent need of something, be in a critical state") and yí 夷 (ant. jīng 驚 "be upset") refers to relaxation, the state of being détendu.

        • WORRY

          1. The current general term for all sorts of troubled states of mind, as well as reasons for such states of mind, is yōu 憂 (ant. xǐ 喜 "be well pleased" and lè 樂 "feel deep joy"), and this word may freely refer to troublesome matters of the present or of the future, and the word typiccally refers to a termporary state of hightened awareness of what is troublesome and concern about what should be done about it.

          2. Lu �慮 (ant. wàng 忘 "refuse to think about, ignore") refers to active reflection upon what one is worried about.

          3. Fán 煩 (ant. jìng 靜 "feel completely at peace") refers to a passive reaction of unsettled anxiousness about something other than oneself.

          4. Zào 躁 (ant. dìng 定 "be well-settled and unruffled") refers to the state of being flustered, restless and upset by worries.

          5. Jí 急 (ant. ān 安 "feel comfortable") refers to urgent and particularly acute temporary worries about something present or immediately imminent.

          6. Jí 疾 (ant. níng 寧 "feel at peace") refers to intense and profound worries about something present (and these worries may or may not be lasting).

          7. Huàn 患 (ant. lè 樂 "feel deeply happy with") refers to intense worry or concern about the possible future effects of something or the possibility of events in the future.

          8. Āi 哀 (ant. lè 樂 "feel perfectly happy with"), when it refers to intense worry rather than grief, connotes despondency and hopelessness and not just worry over possibilities.

          9. Chóu 愁 (ant. yuè 說／悅 "feel pleased"), and the rarer poetic sāo 騷, qiǎo 悄, tì 惕 refer to various shades and degrees of poetically conceived anxiousness.

          10. Shì 事 (ant. zhì 治 "well-ordered situation") can refer to the kinds of matters or affairs that cause one to be anxious or worried.

        • CHOOSE

          1. The general word for making a deliberate and in principle free choice is qǔ 取 "to choose or opt for (the preferred alternative), to prefer" (ant 捨 "reject"), and what is thus chosen or preferred may be concrete or abstract.

          2. Zé 擇 is "to choose between, make a free choice among (alternative objects presenting themselves)" and the word applies to all sorts of choices, formal or informal.

          3. Xuǎn 選 and the rarer bá 拔 (ant. chì 斥 "set aside") is an administrative term referring to the choice of incumbents for a position to be filled according to given criteria of choice.

          4. Cǎi 采 is close in meaning to qǔ 取 but does not naturally correspond to any antonym like shě 捨 "reject".

          5. Qū 趨 (ant. bì 避 "shy away from and avoid") and the rarer xiàng 嚮 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on") refer to a tendency to exercise a certain preference.

          6. Níng 寧 "would rather, prefer to" expresses a free moral or intellectual or practical choice. See PREFER

        • LIKE

          1. The general words expressing preference is ài 愛, but the notion is often hard to distinguish from a preferential desire, and for the semantically closely related hào 好 see DESIRE.

          2. Nìng 寧 refers to subjective general preference.

          3. Bù rú 不如 refers to objective preferability "one should prefer to, one should rather". See also SHOULD.

          Word relations
        • Contrast: (PEACEFUL)定/PEACEFUL
        • Assoc: (PEACEFUL)安/PEACEFUL The dominant general word for peacefulness is ān 安 (wēi 危 "in imminent danger"), but in addition the word also often has considerable philosophical depth and commonly refers to a deep state of unruffled inner serenity in harmony with the outer world.