Meaning
The kanji 奪 means to snatch, rob, take away, or deprive — the kind of taking that happens against someone's will, with force behind it. Unlike simply receiving or picking something up, 奪 always carries a coercive edge. Whether it's a mugger grabbing a bag or an army seizing territory, the act is never voluntary on the receiving end.
The range of 奪 stretches further than you might expect. At one end sits literal robbery: 強奪 (ごうだつ, armed seizure), 略奪 (りゃくだつ, looting). At the other, it covers poetic loss: a breathtaking view can 目を奪う (steal your eyes), a strong performance can 心を奪う (captivate your heart), illness can 声を奪う (rob someone of their voice). The same kanji serves the police report and the novel.
Structurally, 奪 combines three elements: 大 (large/great), 隹 (a short-tailed bird, like a sparrow or hawk), and 寸 (hand or inch, symbolizing a gripping motion). The image is direct — a large hawk reaching down to snatch prey with one talon. Some scholars read it as 隹 (bird) + 大 (great size) + 寸 (claw/grip). That sudden, forceful grab carries through every word where 奪 appears.
With 14 strokes and a grade 8 classification, 奪 is taught at the middle/high school level in Japan. Expect to see it in newspaper headlines, legal documents, and formal prose — rarely in casual conversation. N1 test-takers will meet it regularly in reading passages covering crime, politics, competition, and conflict.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
One on'yomi covers all formal compounds:
ダツ (DATSU) — The standard Sino-Japanese reading. It appears in every formal compound involving forceful seizure, deprivation, or recapture, and is the reading behind news headlines and legal writing. Before voiceless consonants, ダツ shifts to だっ due to gemination — 奪取 becomes だっしゅ (dasshu), not だつしゅ.
- 奪取 (dasshu) — seizure, capture; common in sports (タイトル奪取 = winning a title) and military/political contexts
- 奪還 (dakkan) — recapture, rescue; taking back what was previously lost or stolen
- 奪回 (dakkai) — recovery, recapture; regaining territory, a title, or stolen property
- 略奪 (ryakudatsu) — plunder, pillage; looting during wartime or disaster
- 剥奪 (hakudatsu) — deprivation, stripping; officially removing rights, medals, or titles
- 強奪 (gōdatsu) — armed robbery, violent seizure; taking by overwhelming force or weapons
- 争奪 (sōdatsu) — scramble, fierce contest; competing intensely for something desirable
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
One primary kun'yomi reading functions as a standalone verb:
うば.う (ubau) — The native Japanese verb for "to snatch" or "to rob." The dot marks the boundary between stem (うば) and okurigana (う). It conjugates as a standard Group 1 (godan) verb: 奪う、奪った、奪われる、奪い取る.
- 奪う (ubau) — to snatch, to rob, to steal from someone by force
- 奪い合い (ubai-ai) — a scramble, a tug-of-war; two or more parties fighting over the same thing
- 奪い取る (ubai-toru) — to snatch away completely, to wrest from someone's grasp
- 心を奪う (kokoro wo ubau) — to captivate, to steal someone's heart (metaphorical)
- 目を奪う (me wo ubau) — to draw the eye irresistibly, to be visually stunning
Common Words & Compounds
Compounds with 奪 appear across legal, historical, sports, and literary contexts:
Seizure and taking by force:
- 奪取 (dasshu) — seizure, capture; frequent in sports (タイトル奪取 = capturing a title) and military/political contexts
- 強奪 (gōdatsu) — armed robbery or violent seizure; the 強 (strong/force) makes the violence explicit
- 略奪 (ryakudatsu) — plunder, pillage, looting; typically used for large-scale theft during wars, disasters, or invasions
- 収奪 (shūdatsu) — exploitation, expropriation; the systematic taking of resources or labor from a weaker party
- 簒奪 (sandatsu) — usurpation; the illegal seizure of a throne, crown, or governing power
Deprivation and loss of rights:
- 剥奪 (hakudatsu) — deprivation, stripping; the formal removal of rights, medals, citizenship, or official status. The 剥 means "to peel," so it's literally "peeling away" something that was attached
- 争奪 (sōdatsu) — intense scramble or contest; used when multiple parties are fighting fiercely for the same prize or territory
Recovery and recapture:
- 奪還 (dakkan) — recapture, rescue; common in sports headlines when an athlete reclaims a championship (王座奪還 = reclaiming the throne/title)
- 奪回 (dakkai) — recovery; regaining something that was taken, whether territory, points in a game, or a stolen object
Common verb phrases with うばう:
- 命を奪う (inochi wo ubau) — to take someone's life
- 自由を奪う (jiyū wo ubau) — to deprive of freedom
- 睡眠を奪う (suimin wo ubau) — to rob someone of sleep (said of stress, noise, illness)
- 気を奪われる (ki wo ubawareru) — to have one's attention completely captured, to be distracted
Example Sentences
泥棒が財布を奪って逃げた。
Dorobō ga saifu wo ubatte nigeta.
The thief snatched the wallet and ran.
彼女の美しさに心を奪われた。
Kanojo no utsukushisa ni kokoro wo ubawareta.
I was completely captivated by her beauty.
戦争は多くの人の命を奪った。
Sensō wa ōku no hito no inochi wo ubatta.
The war took the lives of many people.
選手たちは優勝を争奪するために激しく戦った。
Senshu-tachi wa yūshō wo sōdatsu suru tame ni hageshiku tatakatta.
The athletes fought fiercely to seize the championship.
その国では政権が武力によって簒奪された。
Sono kuni dewa seiken ga buryoku ni yotte sandatsu sareta.
In that country, the government was seized by force through a coup.
彼は三年間ぶりにチャンピオンベルトを奪還した。
Kare wa sannenkan buri ni chanpion beruto wo dakkan shita.
He reclaimed the championship belt for the first time in three years.
市民の基本的な権利を剥奪することは絶対に許されない。
Shimin no kihonteki na kenri wo hakudatsu suru koto wa zettai ni yurusarenai.
Stripping citizens of their fundamental rights is absolutely not permissible.
強盗グループが銀行から現金を強奪して逃走した。
Gōtō gurūpu ga ginkō kara genkin wo gōdatsu shite tōsō shita.
A gang of armed robbers seized cash from the bank and fled.
その映画は観客の目を奪う圧倒的な映像美で話題になった。
Sono eiga wa kankyaku no me wo ubau attōteki na eizōbi de wadai ni natta.
That film became a sensation for its overwhelming visual beauty that seized the audience's eyes.
長い病気が彼女から歌手としての声を奪ってしまった。
Nagai byōki ga kanojo kara kashu toshite no koe wo ubatte shimatta.
A long illness robbed her of her voice as a singer.
Memory Tip
Picture a hawk — that's 隹, the short-tailed bird perched at the top of 奪 — with a massive wingspan (大, "large/great"). It dives from the sky and closes one talon around its prey (寸 at the bottom, a gripping hand or claw). The whole character encodes that single violent moment of seizure.
For the reading: ダツ (DATSU) — the hard stop in TU sounds like something cut short, snatched mid-motion. For the verb: うばう (ubau) — think "uba" sounds like "grab-a," the motion of a hand closing around something. Hawk dives → talon closes → 奪.