kidnap

English

Etymology

From kid +‎ nap (“to nab; to grab”). Originally Thieves' cant, referring to the practice of stealing children and shipping them to colonies or plantations as laborers. First attested c. 1680.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪdnæp/
• (Northern England, dated) IPA^(key): /kɪdˈnæp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

kidnap (third-person singular simple present kidnaps, present participle kidnapping or (rare, US only) kidnaping, simple past and past participle kidnapped or (rare, US only) kidnaped)

1. (transitive) To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom. [from 17th c.]
   • 2002 September 6, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “Model Citizens”, in Totally Spies!‎^[1], season 1, episode 9, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Jess Harnell as Jerry and Katie Leigh), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:

     Hello, ladies! How’s the Big Apple?
     Rotten, Jerry! Clover's been kidnapped!
     Oh, dear! That's the second time this month!

   • 2025 March 7, ToI staff, JTA, “The next 24: These are the remaining hostages presumed alive in Gaza”, in The Times of Israel‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 August 2025:

     Angrest, a soldier, was kidnapped from his tank at the Nahal Oz base when it was attacked by Hamas.

Derived terms

• antikidnap
• dognap
• dognapper
• dognapping
• kidnappable
• kidnapped robot problem
• rekidnap
• tiger kidnap
• unkidnap

Translations

to seize and detain a person unlawfully

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: اِخْتَطَفَ (ar) (iḵtaṭafa)

  Hijazi Arabic: اختطف (aḵtaṭaf), خَطَف (ḵaṭaf)

• Armenian: առեւանգել (hy) (aṙewangel)
• Aromanian: arachiu, arãchescu
• Azerbaijani: qaçırmaq (az)
• Belarusian: выкрада́ць impf (vykradácʹ), вы́красці pf (výkrasci)
• Bulgarian: похищавам (bg) impf (pohištavam), отвличам (bg) (otvličam)
• Burmese: ပြန်ပေးဆွဲ (my) (pranpe:hcwai:)
• Catalan: segrestar (ca), raptar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 標參 / 标参 (biu¹ sam¹)

  Mandarin: 綁架 / 绑架 (zh) (bǎngjià), 綁票 / 绑票 (zh) (bǎngpiào), 拐帶 / 拐带 (zh) (guǎidài)

• Cornish: denladra
• Czech: unést (cs)
• Danish: bortføre (da), kidnappe
• Dutch: ontvoeren (nl), kidnappen (nl)
• Esperanto: forkapti
• Estonian: röövima
• Finnish: kidnapata (fi), kaapata (fi), siepata (fi)
• French: enlever (fr), kidnapper (fr), ravir (fr)
• Georgian: მოტაცება (moṭaceba)
• German: entführen (de)
• Greek: απάγω (el) (apágo)

  Ancient Greek: ἀπάγω (apágō)

• Hebrew: חטף (he) (ḥataf)
• Hindi: अपहरण करना (apahraṇ karnā)
• Hungarian: elrabol (hu), embert rabol
• Icelandic: ræna (is)
• Ido: kidnapar (io), raptar (io)
• Indonesian: menculik (id)
• Interlingua: sequestrar
• Italian: rapire (it), sequestrare (it)
• Japanese: 誘拐する (ja) (ゆうかいする, yūkai suru), 攫う (ja) (さらう, sarau), 拉致る (ja) (slang)
• Khmer: ចាប់ជំរិត (capcumrɨt)
• Korean: 채가다 (chaegada), 훔치다 (ko) (humchida), 납치하다 (ko) (napchihada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕفاندن (rfandin)

• Lao: ລັກພາຕົວ (lak phā tūa)
• Latin: raptō, rapiō
• Latvian: nolaupīšana f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: киднапи́ра impf or pf (kidnapíra)
• Maltese: ħataf
• Māori: mautāhae, tipua, tupua
• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: thōhlǖkhúa

• Norman: enlever
• Norwegian: kidnappe
• Old English: forstelan
• Persian: آدم‌ربای کردن (âdam-robâye kardan)
• Polish: porywać (pl) impf, porwać (pl) pf, uprowadzać (pl) impf, uprowadzić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: sequestrar (pt), raptar (pt)
• Romanian: răpi (ro)
• Russian: похища́ть (ru) impf (poxiščátʹ), похи́тить (ru) pf (poxítitʹ), красть (ru) impf (krastʹ), укра́сть (ru) pf (ukrástʹ), выкра́дывать (ru) impf (vykrádyvatʹ), вы́красть (ru) pf (výkrastʹ), ворова́ть (ru) impf (vorovátʹ), сворова́ть (ru) pf (svorovátʹ)
• Sardinian: arpiài
• Serbo-Croatian: oteti (sh)
• Slovak: uniesť pf
• Spanish: secuestrar (es), raptar (es)
• Swahili: teka nyara (sw)
• Swedish: kidnappa (sv)
• Tamil: கடத்து (ta) (kaṭattu)
• Thai: ลักพาตัว (th) (lák-paa-dtuua)
• Tibetan: ཇག་ཁྲིད་བྱས (jag khrid byas)
• Turkish: kaçırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: викрада́ти impf (vykradáty), ви́красти pf (výkrasty)
• Vietnamese: bắt cóc (vi)
• Yiddish: אַוועקכאַפּן (avekkhapn)
• Yoruba: jínigbé, jígbé, jímọ (kidnap a child)

Noun

kidnap (countable and uncountable, plural kidnaps)

1. The crime, or an instance, of kidnapping.

Related terms

• kidnapper, kidnaper
• kidnappee, kidnapee

Translations

an instance of kidnapping

• Bulgarian: отвличане n (otvličane), похищение (bg) n (pohištenie)
• Catalan: segrest (ca), rapte (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 綁架 / 绑架 (zh) (bǎngjià), 誘拐 / 诱拐 (zh) (yòuguǎi), 拐騙 / 拐骗 (zh) (guǎipiàn), 綁票 / 绑票 (zh) (bǎngpiào)

• Czech: únos (cs) m
• Dutch: ontvoering (nl) f
• Finnish: kidnappaus (fi), sieppaus (fi)
• French: enlèvement (fr) m, kidnapping (fr) m, rapt (fr) m
• German: Entführung (de) f, Menschenraub m, Kinderraub m
• Hebrew: חטיפה (ḥatifa)
• Hindi: अपहरण (hi) m (apahraṇ)
• Hungarian: emberrablás (hu)
• Ido: rapto (io)
• Indonesian: penculikan (id)
• Interlingua: sequestro
• Irish: fuadach m
• Italian: sequestro (it), rapimento (it)
• Japanese: 誘拐 (ja) (ゆうかい, yūkai), 拉致 (ja) (らち, rachi)
• Korean: 납치(拉致) (ko) (napchi)
• Latvian: nolaupīt
• Polish: porwanie (pl) n, uprowadzenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: sequestro (pt)
• Russian: похище́ние (ru) n (poxiščénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: otmica (sh) f
• Spanish: secuestro (es), rapto (es)
• Swedish: kidnappning (sv) c
• Tagalog: kidnap (tl), dukot
• Vietnamese: sự bắt cóc (vi)

Anagrams

• ink pad, ink-pad, inkpad

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

kidnap

1. inflection of kidnappen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English kidnap.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈkidnap/ [ˈkid̪.n̪ɐp̚]
• Rhymes: -idnap
• Syllabification: kid‧nap

Noun

kidnap (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜒᜇ᜔ᜈᜉ᜔)

1. kidnap

   Synonym: dukot

Derived terms

• kidnapin
• kumidnap
• makidnap
• mangingidnap
• pangingidnap

Related terms

• kidnaper
• kidnaping

See also

• agaw
• gabot

Further reading

• “kidnap”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “kidnap”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018