Onyomi: ホ · Kunyomi: つか.まえる, つか.まる, と.らえる, と.らわれる, と.る, とら.える, とら.われる · Meanings: capture, catch
Kanji for capture, catch
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捕 is made from the hand radical 扌 and the character 甫. The left part, 扌, shows a hand reaching out. The right part, 甫, originally depicted plants being pulled up from the ground. Ancient scribes combined these parts to show the idea of grasping or taking hold of something with the hand. Over time, this image of “a hand pulling or seizing” became the kanji for catching, grabbing, or capturing.
捕 shows a hand reaching out to take hold of something. The left side is the hand radical, and the right side gives the sense of pulling or seizing — together expressing the act of catching.
Think of a hand (扌) stretching out to grab something before it escapes — that quick motion of reaching and catching is the heart of 捕.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 捕虜 | ほりょ | prisoner (of war), POW, captive | common JLPT-N1 Noun |
| 捕鯨 | ほげい | whaling, whale hunting, whale fishing | common JLPT-N1 Noun |
| 捕まえる | つかまえる | to catch, to capture, to arrest, to seize, to restrain | common JLPT-N4 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 捕まる | つかまる | to be caught, to be arrested | common JLPT-N3 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Intransitive verb |
| 捉える | とらえる | to catch, to capture, to seize, to arrest, to grab, to catch hold of | common JLPT-N2 JLPT-N1 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 捕る | とる | to catch (a wild animal, fish, insect, baseball, etc.), to capture | common JLPT-N2 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Transitive verb |
| 捕獲 | ほかく | capture, seizure | common JLPT-N1 Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |
| 抽出 | ちゅうしゅつ | extraction, abstraction | common Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |
| 囚われる | とらわれる | to be caught, to be captured, to be taken prisoner, to be arrested, to be apprehended | common Ichidan verb, Intransitive verb |
| 捕食 | ほしょく | predation, eating prey, preying upon | Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |
| 捕縛 | ほばく | arrest, apprehension, capture | Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |
| 捕虫網 | ほちゅうあみ | insect net, butterfly net | Noun |
| 捕手 | ほしゅ | catcher | common Noun |
| 捕れる | とれる | to be caught (of a wild animal, fish, baseball, etc.), to be captured | Ichidan verb, Intransitive verb |
| 捕球 | ほきゅう | catch | Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb, Intransitive verb |