音読み: ホ
訓読み: とらえる・つかまえる・とらわれる
画数: 10
部首: 扌（てへん）
Meaning
To catch / To capture / To seize
- 捕える — to catch; to capture; to grasp
- 捕まえる — to seize; to arrest
- 捕まる — to get caught; to be captured
- 捕獲 — capture; taking alive
- 逮捕 — arrest
- 捕球 — catching a ball (baseball)
The left part 扌 is the hand radical, showing direct action with the hand. The right part (甫) provides the sound ホ. 捕 carries the sense of reaching out and getting hold of something — stopping it from escaping.
Think baseball. 球 is the ball. 捕 is what the catcher does — get that ball under control. Together in 捕球, it’s literally “ball-catching.”
Creates
捕獲 — capture, often alive and without killing.