生擒 (shēng qín) — capture alive

Definition

生擒 means to catch someone alive, as opposed to killing them. Emphasizes capturing the person intact and unharmed, often in military or law-enforcement contexts.

verb
capture alive

Examples

  • 生擒。
    Jǐng fāng zài biān jìng shēng qín le yì míng táo fàn.
    The police captured a fugitive alive at the border.
  • ，生擒。
    Gǔ dài zhàn zhēng zhōng, jiàng lǐng men cháng xià lìng shēng qín dí jūn shǒu lǐng.
    In ancient warfare, generals often ordered to capture enemy leaders alive.
  • 生擒。
    Zhè cì xíng dòng chéng gōng shēng qín le suǒ yǒu kǒng bù fèn zǐ.
    This operation successfully captured all terrorists alive.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

生shēngalive
擒qíncapture

生 'alive' and 擒 'capture' combine to mean capture alive.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

Open 生 →

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shǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
禽
禽qín擒qín
Same sound today

The left part 扌 is a hand, written in full as 手, so the character shows an action done with the hand; the right part 禽 gives its sound.

Open 擒 →

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