How to Write 擒 (qín) — Meaning “to capture; to seize”

Imagine your hand (扌) reaching out to grab a bird (禽) as it tries to fly away. The bird’s shape inside the right part has a person-like figure (人) and a small mouth (口), which can remind you of a bird being caught. This mental picture helps link the hand action to the meaning of capture.

The left radical 扌 uses three strokes: horizontal, vertical hook, and a short upward flick. The right part 禽 has nine strokes; be careful to write the top component (人) with a left-falling and right-falling stroke, then the middle part (口) as a square, and finally the bottom (禸) which starts with a horizontal stroke and ends with two dots inside. A common mistake is to make the bird-like shape too narrow or to forget the dots at the bottom.

Unlike 擒, the character 搋 (chuāi) means 'to knead' or 'to hide in a pocket' and has the phonetic part 揣 (chuǎi) instead of 禽. The character 搌 (zhǎn) means 'to wipe' or 'to clean' and uses the phonetic 展 (zhǎn). Visually, 擒 has the bird-shaped right side (禽) while the others have different right components, so the meaning changes completely.

You often see 擒 in martial arts terms like 擒拿 (qín ná), which refers to grappling techniques used to capture or control an opponent. It also appears in police and military language, such as 擒获 (qín huò) meaning 'to capture and catch' or 生擒 (shēng qín) meaning 'to capture alive'. These words are common in news reports about arrests or combat.

Common words containing 擒 include: 擒拿 (qín ná) — grappling; Chin Na (martial arts); 擒获 (qín huò) — to capture; to apprehend; 生擒 (shēng qín) — to capture alive.