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搜捕 (sōu bǔ) — to search for and arrest (suspects); to raid (a place)

Definition

搜捕 (sōubǔ) is an official/law-enforcement verb meaning to search for and arrest — combines searching and detaining in one action, stronger than plain 抓 (just 'grab/catch').

verb
to search for and arrest (suspects)to raid (a place)

Examples

  • 搜捕。
    Jǐng fāng lián yè duì nà dòng lóu jìn xíng le sōu bǔ.
    The police raided that building overnight.
  • 搜捕，。
    Tā men sōu bǔ le sān tiān, zhōng yú zhuā zhù le xián yí rén.
    They searched for three days and finally caught the suspect.
  • 搜捕，。
    Zhè cì sōu bǔ xíng dòng fēi cháng shùn lì, méi yǒu yù dào dǐ kàng.
    This raid went very smoothly, with no resistance encountered.

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sōusearch
捕bǔcapture

搜 searches and 捕 captures, so the word means to search for and arrest.

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.

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.

Open 搜 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
甫
甫fǔ捕bǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

捕 uses 扌 (a hand, from 手) to show catching, and 甫 for the sound.

Open 捕 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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