搜刮 (sōu guā) — to extort, to plunder, to fleece (take money or… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

搜刮 means to forcibly extract money or property from people — usually by officials or gangs exploiting power. It implies repeated or systematic extraction, more violent than 敲诈 ('blackmail'), which targets a single deal.

verb

to extortto plunderto fleece (take money or property by force or fraud)

Examples

搜刮。
Tān guān lì yòng zhí quán sōu guā bǎi xìng de cái chǎn.
Corrupt officials use their power to extort the people's property.
搜刮。
Nà ge qiáng dào bǎ cūn zi lǐ de liáng shi dōu sōu guā guāng le.
That bandit plundered all the grain in the village.
搜刮。
Tā men tōng guò fēi fǎ shǒu duàn sōu guā le dà liàng cái fù.
They fleeced a large amount of wealth through illegal means.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

“搜” search and “刮” scrape describe taking money by force.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

扌叟搜

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

叟

叟sǒu搜sōu

Same sound today

The left 扌 is a hand. The right 叟 gives the sound and originally pictured a hand holding a torch indoors, related to searching.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

刀刀dāoknife

Sound part声符shēngfú

𠯑

𠯑𠯑刮guā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刮 combines 刀, a knife, with 𠯑, which gives the sound.

Appears in

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