captive

See also: captivé

English

Etymology

From Middle English captif; in turn ultimately from Latin captīvus, probably through a borrowing from a Middle French intermediate. Doublet of caitiff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæptɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cap‧tive

Noun

captive (plural captives)

1. One who has been captured or is otherwise confined.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him. The captive made no resistance […].

2. One held prisoner.
3. (figurative) One charmed or subdued by beauty, excellence, or affection; one who is captivated.

Translations

a person who has been captured

• Albanian: rob (sq) m
• Arabic: أَسِير‎ m (ʾasīr), مَحْبُوس‎ m (maḥbūs)

  Egyptian Arabic: يسير‎ m (yasīr)

• Armenian: գերի (hy) (geri)
• Azerbaijani: əsir (az)
• Belarusian: пало́нны (palónny), пало́ннік m (palónnik), вя́зень m (vjázjenʹ)
• Bengali: বন্দী (bôndī)
• Bulgarian: пле́нник (bg) m (plénnik), затворник (bg) m (zatvornik)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: captiu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 俘虜 (zh), 俘虏 (zh) (fúlǔ)

• Czech: zajatec (cs) m
• Danish: fange (da) c
• Dutch: gevangene (nl) m or f
• Estonian: vang (et)
• Finnish: vanki (fi)
• French: captif (fr) m, captive (fr) f
• Galician: cativo m
• Georgian: ტყვე (ṭq̇ve)
• German: Gefangener (de) m, Gefangene (de) f
• Greek: δεσμώτης (el) m (desmótis)

  Ancient: αἰχμάλωτος m or f (aikhmálōtos)

• Hebrew: שָׁבוּי‎ m (shavúy)
• Hindi: बंदी (hi) m (bandī), असीर (hi) m (asīr)
• Hungarian: fogoly (hu)
• Irish: cime m, príosúnach m, braighdeanach m, broid f (literary)
• Italian: prigioniero (it)
• Japanese: 俘虜 (ja) (ふりょ, furyo, とりこ, toriko), とりこ (ja) (toriko)
• Kazakh: тұтқын (kk) (tutqın)
• Khmer: ឈ្លើយ (km) (chləəy)
• Korean: 포로 (ko) (poro) (捕虜 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دیل‎ (dîl)

• Kyrgyz: туткун (ky) (tutkun)
• Lao: ຊະເລີຍ (sa lœ̄i), ເຊີຍ (sœ̄i)

• Latin: captus (la) m
• Latvian: gūsteknis m, sagūstītais m
• Lithuanian: belaisvis m
• Macedonian: заробеник m (zarobenik), заробеничка f (zarobenička)
• Malay: orang tawanan
• Maltese: isir m, maqbud m
• Maori: whakarau
• Mongolian: хоригдол (mn) (horigdol)
• Nahuatl: malli (nah)
• Navajo: yisnááh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fange (no) m

• Old English: hæft
• Pashto: اسير‎ (ps) m (asír), بندي‎ (ps) m (bandí)
• Persian: اسیر‎ (fa) (asir), بندی‎‎ (bandi)
• Plautdietsch: Jefangna m
• Polish: jeniec (pl) m, więzień (pl) m
• Portuguese: cativo (pt) m
• Romanian: captiv (ro) m, prizonier (ro) m
• Russian: пле́нный (ru) m (plénnyj), пле́нная (ru) f (plénnaja), пле́нник (ru) m (plénnik), пле́нница (ru) f (plénnica), у́зник (ru) m (úznik), у́зница (ru) f (úznica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сужањ m, заробљеник m, заробљеница f

  Roman: sužanj (sh) m, zarobljenik (sh) m, zarobljenica (sh) f

• Slovak: zajatec m
• Slovene: ujetnik (sl) m, ujetnica f
• Spanish: cautivo (es) m, prisionero (es) m
• Swedish: fånge (sv)
• Tajik: асир (tg) (asir), бандизан (bandizan)
• Tatar: әсир (tt) (äsir)
• Thai: เชลย (th) (chá-ləəi)
• Turkish: esir (tr)
• Turkmen: ýesir
• Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎒𐎗 (ảsr)
• Ukrainian: полоне́ний m (polonényj), бра́нець (uk) m (bránecʹ), в'я́зень (uk) m (vʺjázenʹ)
• Urdu: اسیر‎ m (asīr), بندی‎‎ m (bandī)
• Uyghur: ئەسىر‎ (esir)
• Uzbek: asir (uz), tutkun (uz), bandi (uz)
• Vietnamese: người tù binh
• Yiddish: געפֿאַנגענער‎ m (gefangener)

a person held prisoner

• Bulgarian: затворник (bg) m (zatvornik)
• Czech: zajatec (cs) m
• Dutch: gevangene (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: kaptito, malliberulo
• Finnish: vanki (fi)
• German: Gefangener (de)
• Irish: cime m
• Italian: prigioniero (it)
• Nahuatl: malli (nah)
• Navajo: yisnááh
• Novial: kaptate

• Persian: اسیر‎ (fa) (asir)
• Plautdietsch: Jefangna m
• Polish: więzień (pl) m, jeniec (pl) m
• Portuguese: prisioneiro (pt) m
• Russian: пле́нник (ru) m (plénnik), пле́нница (ru) f (plénnica), у́зник (ru) m (úznik), у́зница (ru) f (úznica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: заробљеник m, заробљеница f

  Roman: zarobljenik (sh) m, zarobljenica (sh) f

• Spanish: preso (es) m
• Thai: เชลย (th) (chá-ləəi)
• Turkish: esir (tr), mahkum (tr), tutuklu (tr), hükümlü (tr)

Adjective

captive (not comparable)

1. Held prisoner; not free; confined.
   • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398:

     A poor, miserable, captive thrall.

2. Subdued by love; charmed; captivated.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     Even in so short a space, my woman's heart / Grossly grew captive to his honey words.

3. Of or relating to bondage or confinement; serving to confine.

   captive chains; captive hours

Derived terms

• captive candidate

Translations

held prisoner

• Arabic: أَسِير‎ (ʾasīr), مَحْبُوس‎ (maḥbūs)
• Belarusian: пало́нны (palónny)
• Bulgarian: пленен (bg) (plenen)
• Catalan: captiu (ca)
• Czech: zajatý
• Dutch: gevangen (nl)
• Finnish: vangittu (fi)
• French: captif (fr)
• German: gefangen (de)

• Italian: catturato (it), intrappolato (it)
• Macedonian: заробен (zaroben)
• Malay: tawanan
• Maori: aromea
• Portuguese: cativo (pt)
• Romanian: captiv (ro)
• Russian: пле́нный (ru) (plénnyj)
• Slovak: zajatý
• Spanish: cautivo (es)
• Ukrainian: поло́нений (polónenyj)

Verb

captive (third-person singular simple present captives, present participle captiving, simple past and past participle captived)

1. (transitive, archaic) To capture; to take captive.

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French

Verb

captive

1. first-person singular present indicative of captiver
2. third-person singular present indicative of captiver
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of captiver
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of captiver
5. second-person singular imperative of captiver

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Latin

Adjective

captīve

1. vocative masculine singular of captīvus

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Middle English

Noun

captive

1. Alternative form of captif