擒

qín
verb #13,262

Meanings

  1. 1 to capture; to seize; to apprehend

Examples

HSK 6
警察生擒了逃犯。
Jǐngchá shēngqín le táofàn.
The police captured the fugitive alive.
HSK 7-9
Qín zéi xiān qín wáng.
To catch the bandits, first catch the leader.

Tips

usage
擒 is literary/formal. Common compounds: 擒获 (to apprehend), 生擒 (to capture alive), 就擒 (to be captured).

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Left-side hand radical, the three-stroke side form of 手. Indexes 擒 in the hand-action family alongside 抓 to grab, 拿 to take, 捉 to catch. Capturing a beast or a fugitive is hand-work - the radical names the grasping fingers that close around prey.
phonetic
禽 qín
bird; fowl
Right side 禽 supplies the sound directly - qín to qín. 禽 also adds meaning: it originally meant any captured beast or bird, the spoils of the hunt. So 擒 is hand plus prey, the literal picture of seizing a quarry. The chengyu 擒贼先擒王 'catch bandits, catch the king first' preserves this hunting register.

Stroke Order

擒 qín