捉 meaning in English

zhuō

to clutch; to grab

HSK 6verb10 strokes

Meaning of 捉

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

zhuō

to clutch
to grab
to capture

How to use 捉

捉 means to catch or capture a person or animal, and it often appears in set words like 捉住 (zhuōzhù) or 捕捉 (bǔzhuō). In everyday speech 抓 (zhuā) is more common, while 捉 sounds a bit more literary or fixed. Example: 猫捉老鼠。(Māo zhuō lǎoshǔ.) The cat catches the mouse.

捉 has the hand radical 扌 on the left and 足 (zú, foot) on the right. Picture a hand grabbing someone by the foot as they try to run away, and you have 捉 (zhuō), to catch.

Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 是 or 走 instead of 足, or confuse 捉 with 促 (cù), which has the person radical 亻. Also keep the tone flat: 捉 is first tone zhuō, not zhuó.

捉 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

来lái玩wán捉zhuō迷mí藏cáng吧ba！

Let's play hide-and-seek!

不bù管guǎn黑hēi猫māo白bái猫māo，能néng捉zhuō老lǎo鼠shǔ就jiù是shì好hǎo猫māo。

Whether it's white or black, a cat that chases mice is a good cat.

我wǒ们men把bǎ小xiǎo偷tōu捉zhuō住zhù了le。

We caught the thief.

咱zán们men玩wán儿ér捉zhuō迷mí藏cáng吧ba。

Let's play a game of blind man's buff.

不bú要yào捉zhuō弄nòng老lǎo人rén家jiā。

Don't make fun of old people.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

捉 zhuō · to clutch · 10 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 捉.

捕捉	bǔzhuō	to catch; to seize; to capture
捉迷藏	zhuōmícáng	to play hide-and-seek
捉住	zhuōzhù	to catch; to grapple with
活捉	huózhuō	to capture alive
捉弄	zhuōnòng	to tease
捉拿	zhuōná	to arrest; to catch a criminal
难以捉摸	nányǐzhuōmō	elusive; hard to pin down
捉摸	zhuōmō	to fathom; to make sense of

Questions about 捉

What does 捉 mean?

捉 (zhuō) means "to clutch; to grab" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 捉?

捉 is made of 1 character: 捉 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.

Is 捉 an HSK word?

Yes. 捉 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the difference between 捉 and 抓?

Both can mean to catch, but 抓 (zhuā) is the everyday word and also means to scratch or grab with your hand. 捉 focuses on capturing something that might escape and is mostly used in fixed words like 捉迷藏 and 活捉.

Does 捉弄 mean to catch someone?

No. 捉弄 (zhuōnòng) means to tease or play a trick on someone. For example, 别捉弄他 (bié zhuōnòng tā) means don't tease him.