劫掠 (jiélüè): to loot

Meanings

1 to loot
2 to plunder
3 to pillage; raid

Characters

劫

to plunder; sweep over

Examples

海盗劫掠了过往的商船。

Hǎidào jiélüè le guòwǎng de shāngchuán.

The pirates plundered passing merchant ships.

战乱中很多文物被劫掠。

Zhànluàn zhōng hěn duō wénwù bèi jiélüè.

Many cultural relics were looted during the wars.

Tips

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劫掠 is formal/literary, used for war, piracy, and large-scale historical looting. For everyday robbery, use 抢劫 (qiǎngjié). For sweeping a museum or archaeological site, 劫掠 is the classic word — common in news about WWII Nazi looting (纳粹劫掠) and the 1860 Anglo-French sacking of the Old Summer Palace (英法联军劫掠圆明园).