Chinese word

捕

Pronunciation

Pinyinbǔ

Meaning

  • verbcatch

Example

警察逮捕了小偷。jǐng chá dài bǔ le xiǎo tōu

The police caught the thief.

Illustration for 捕 (catch)

More examples

摄影师成功捕捉到了飞舞的雪花瞬间。shè yǐng shī chéng gōng bǔ zhuō dào le fēi wǔ de xuě huā shùn jiān

The photographer successfully captured the moment when snowflakes danced.

Core concept

A hand or tool takes hold of something and leaves it unable to get away.

Common phrases

  • 逮捕罪犯dài bǔ zuì fàn

    arrest criminals

  • 捕捉瞬间bǔ zhuō shùn jiān

    capture a moment

  • 捕获动物bǔ huò dòng wù

    capture animals

Similar words

抓zhuā: Grabbing something quickly with the bare hand or fingers.
逮捕dài bǔ: Arresting a person under the law through the authority of the police or another official body.
捕获bǔ huò: Capturing and restraining a wild animal or something that is escaping.
捕捉bǔ zhuō: Seizing information, an opportunity, or a moving thing and gaining it.

Definition in Chinese

用手或工具抓住或控制人或物，使其不能逃脱。yòng shǒu huò gōng jù zhuā zhù huò kòng zhì rén huò wù shǐ qí bù néng táo tuō

Word origin

捕 (bǔ, "to catch") is a phono-semantic character: 扌 (shǒu, "hand radical") marks a hand action, while 甫 (fǔ, "phonetic element") mainly supplies the sound.

Usage tips

  • This character is especially useful in formal writing about law enforcement, hunting, and wildlife management, where the surrounding context identifies the exact target and situation.

Other meanings

  • arrestverb
  • captureverb

Opposites

Related words

  • 捕捉bǔ zhuōcaptureverb
  • 捕获bǔ huòcaptureverb
  • 捕杀bǔ shāhunt down and killverb

Word lists with this word