Chinese symbol for “prefer”
宁
nìng
Traditional: 寧
would rather; to prefer; how (emphatic); Taiwan pr. [ning2]
The closest CC-CEDICT match for prefer is 宁 (nìng), defined as: would rather; to prefer; how (emphatic); Taiwan pr. [ning2].
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “prefer”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 喜好 | xǐ hào | to like; fond of |
| 偏向 | piān xiàng | partial towards sth; to prefer |
| 偏爱 (偏愛) | piān ài | to be partial towards sth; to favor |
| 偏宠 (偏寵) | piān chǒng | to favor; to prefer |
| 倾向于 (傾向於) | qīng xiàng yú | to incline to; to prefer |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 宁.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 宁愿 (寧願) | nìng yuàn | would rather ... (than ...) |
| 宁可 (寧可) | nìng kě | preferably; one would prefer to...(or not to...) |
| 宁静 (寧靜) | níng jìng | tranquil; tranquility |
| 安宁 (安寧) | ān níng | peaceful; tranquil |
| 宁肯 (寧肯) | nìng kěn | would rather...; it would be better... |
| 丁宁 (丁寧) | dīng níng | variant of 叮咛 (dīng níng) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “prefer”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.