掠
Character Story & Explanation
In contemporary Chinese media and law, 掠 is most commonly used in formal, critical contexts: news reports on illegal land requisition (强征掠夺), academic analyses of colonial resource extraction, and anti-corruption investigations citing 'illegally掠ing state assets.' It appears in the idiom 掠人之美 (lüè rén zhī měi)—'to appropriate others’ credit'—a well-documented phrase since the Ming Dynasty, still cited in editorial columns today. The term carries strong negative connotation and is virtually absent from casual speech.
The character’s form combines 扌 (hand radical) with 略 (lüè, 'summary; strategy'). While 略 itself evolved from ancient characters meaning 'to survey territory,' 掠 emerged as a distinct verb in early medieval texts (e.g., Book of Jin, 7th c.) to denote military seizure. Its modern usage reflects this legacy: always intentional, often unjust, never benign.
Imagine a coastal fishing village in Zhejiang Province, where typhoon warnings flash on local screens. As waves crash over seawalls, villagers rush to secure boats—but some outsiders, sensing chaos, begin seizing unattended nets and gear. This isn’t theft in the petty sense; it’s swift, opportunistic appropriation under cover of crisis. The character 掠 captures precisely that: forceful, often ruthless, taking—not through negotiation or purchase, but by sudden advantage.
In historical texts like the Records of the Grand Historian, 掠 appears in accounts of frontier raids—Xiongnu cavalry sweeping across Han borders, ‘grabbing’ livestock, grain, and captives. Unlike 拿 (ná, 'to take') or 取 (qǔ, 'to obtain'), 掠 implies coercion, imbalance of power, and moral condemnation. It’s rarely neutral; even modern legal documents use it for wartime looting or corporate asset seizure without due process.
The radical 扌 (hand) signals physical action, while the right side 略 (lüè) originally meant 'to survey' or 'to plan strategically'—a telling fusion: hand + calculation = premeditated seizure. This duality makes 掠 uniquely potent: it’s not impulsive snatching, but deliberate, tactical appropriation. That’s why it appears in phrases like 掠夺资源 (to plunder resources), evoking ecological exploitation, not just theft.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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