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7-9
挾持

to take hostage

Character Composition

Characters

Pinyin

xia2chi2 • xiáchí

Meaning

Primary

to take hostage

Alternatives

take hostage, takes hostage, took hostage, taking hostage

Mnemonic

挾持 To take hostage is to 挾 to coerce people into doing what you want by 持 supporting someone firmly by the arm and refusing to let them go until your demands are met.

Usage

警察 解救 了 被 挾持 的 人質。

The police rescued the person that was taken hostage.

挾持 人質 是 一 種 嚴重 的 犯罪。

Taking hostages is a serious crime.

他們 威脅 要 挾持 駕駛員。

They threatened to take the driver hostage.