to strive for / to vie for / to argue or debate / deficient or lacking (dialect) / how or what (literary)

= + : Mnemonic symbol: The grim reaper, as 争 is often used in words involving war (...战争). In front of the engine ((e)ng1), the grim reaper (争) marks his next victims in passing. With a crayon (肀) he draws big "X"s on the crane (⺈) and James II of England (zh).

争 character breakdown

Character component without intrinsic meaning

I think this looks like a crane; to the left is its wing, and to the right its head.
Character component without intrinsic meaning

Aphrodite tags the space station's bathroom using her crayon.

Characters with 争 as component

clean / completely / only / net (income, exports etc) / (Chinese opera) painted face male role

= + : The grim reaper (争) is very annoyed by Joan of Arc (ji) eating popsicle after popsicle (冫) in the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4). She does not take care at all and repeatedly messes up the floor which the grim reaper has to clean (净) again and again.
variant of 淨|净[jing4]

= + : The grim reaper (争) is very annoyed by Joan of Arc (ji) eating popsicle after popsicle (冫) in the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4). She does not take care at all and repeatedly messes up the floor which the grim reaper has to clean (净) again and again.
still / calm / quiet / not moving

= + : Joan of Arc meets the grim reaper in the engine's bathroom. She is scared to death and does not dare to move, so she stands extremely quiet. This time, the grim reaper did not come for her; he just wants to drink from the fountain of youth, which is located in the engine's bathroom.
to struggle to get free / to strive to acquire / to make (money)

= + : The grim reaper (争) comes to the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4) to take James II of England (zh) with him. James II of England struggles (挣) to get free, but the grim reaper tightly grabs his back with a toy claw (扌).
used in 掙扎|挣扎[zheng1 zha2]
guzheng or long zither / long zither with 13 to 16 strings, developed from guqin 古琴 during Tang and Song times / Japanese koto
to open (one's eyes)

= + : The eye of providence (目) dressed like the grim reaper (争) and shocked James II of England (zh) in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Now James doesn't want to open his eyes (睁) so he doesn't have to see the grim reaper. The eye of providence can't even convince him to open his eyes and look at him to see that it was just a prank.
clang of metals / small gong
excel / lofty
Japanese variant of 淨|净
to admonish / to warn sb of their errors / to criticize frankly / Taiwan pr. [zheng1]
hideous / fierce-looking
old variant of 婧[jing4]

Words with 争

competitive strength / competitiveness
to stand aloof from worldly affairs
War of Liberation (1945-49), after which the Communists 共產黨武裝|共产党武装 under Mao Zedong 毛澤東|毛泽东 took over from the Nationalists 國民政府|国民政府 under Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石|蒋介石
argument / debate / controversy
competitive product / competitor's product
confrontation of 1929 between Chiang Kaishek and the Guangxi warlord faction
lit. the ant fights, the snail contends (idiom); fig. petty squabbling
constant bickering and fighting (idiom); constantly at each other's throats / struggle for personal gain
National Protection War or Campaign to Defend the Republic (1915), a rebellion against the installation of Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Shi4 kai3] as emperor
National protection war or Campaign to defend the republic (1915), a rebellion against the installation of Yuan Shikai as emperor
the Yom Kippur war of October 1973 between Israel and her Arab neighbors
a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend (idiom); refers to the classical philosophic schools of the Warring States period 475-221 BC, but adopted for Mao's campaign of 1956
direct competitor / direct competition
war of 1920 between Northern Warlords, in which the Zhili faction beat the Anhui faction and took over the Beijing government
to vie against one another / to fight each other / mutual aggression

Sentences with 争

争 currently does not appear in any sentence.