kidnapping

English

Alternative forms

• kidnaping (US, less common)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

kidnapping

1. present participle and gerund of kidnap

Noun

kidnapping (countable and uncountable, plural kidnappings)

1. (crime) The crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom.
   • 2025 March 7, ToI staff, JTA, “The next 24: These are the remaining hostages presumed alive in Gaza”, in The Times of Israel‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 August 2025:

     The Kiryat Malachi native, who had been working as a bartender in Tel Aviv before his kidnapping, was last seen trying to hide next to a car as a terrorist fired a rocket-propelled grenade at him and a friend.

Derived terms

• antikidnapping
• bikenapping
• bridenapping
• carnapping
• catnapping
• dognapping
• express kidnapping
• gnome-napping
• slavenapping
• tiger kidnapping

Translations

the crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom

• Albanian: rrëmbim (sq) m
• Arabic: اِخْتِطَاف m (iḵtiṭāf)
• Armenian: առեւանգում (hy) (aṙewangum)
• Belarusian: выкрада́нне n (vykradánnje)
• Bulgarian: отвли́чане n (otvlíčane), похище́ние (bg) n (pohišténie)
• Catalan: segrest (ca) m
• 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
• Danish: kidnapning c, bortførelse c, bortførsel c
• Dutch: gijzeling (nl) f
• Esperanto: homforkapto
• Estonian: inimrööv
• Finnish: ihmisryöstö (fi), sieppaus (fi)
• French: enlèvement (fr), kidnapping (fr), rapt (fr) m
• Georgian: მოტაცება (moṭaceba)
• German: Entführung (de) f, Menschenraub m, Kinderraub m, Kidnapping (de) n
• Greek: απαγωγή (el) f (apagogí)

  Ancient Greek: ἀνδραποδισμός m (andrapodismós), ἀπαγωγή f (apagōgḗ)

• Hebrew: חֲטִיפָה f (ḥatifa)
• Hindi: अपहरण (hi) m (apahraṇ)
• Hungarian: emberrablás (hu)
• Icelandic: mannrán (is) n
• Italian: sequestro (it) m
• Japanese: 誘拐 (ja) (ゆうかい, yūkai), 拉致 (ja) (らち, rachi)
• Khmer: មនុស្សគ្រាស (mĕəʼnuhsaʼkriəh)
• Korean: 납치(拉致) (ko) (napchi), 랍치(拉致) (ko) (rapchi) (North Korea), 유괴(誘拐) (ko) (yugoe)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: revandin (ku) f

• Lao: ການລັກພາຕົວ (kān lak phā tūa)
• Latin: plagium n
• Latvian: nolaupīšana f
• Lithuanian: pagrobimas m
• Macedonian: киднапи́рање n (kidnapíranje)
• Malay: penculikan (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kidnapping m or f

  Nynorsk: kidnapping f

• Persian: آدم‌ربایی (âdam-robâyi)
• Polish: porwanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: sequestro (pt) m, rapto (pt) m
• Romanian: răpire (ro) f
• Russian: похище́ние (ru) n (poxiščénije), киднэ́ппинг (ru) m (kidnɛ́pping), кидне́ппинг (ru) m (kidnɛ́pping)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀тмица f

  Latin: òtmica (sh) f

• Slovak: únos m
• Slovene: ugrabitev (sl) f
• Spanish: secuestro (es) m
• Swahili: utekaji nyara
• Swedish: kidnappning (sv) c
• Thai: การลักพาตัว, ลักพาตัว (th) (lák-paa-dtuua)
• Turkish: adam kaçırma
• Ukrainian: ви́крадення n (výkradennja), викрада́ння n (vykradánnja)
• Vietnamese: sự bắt cóc (vi)
• Yoruba: ìjínigbé, ìwà sùnmọ̀mí, ìwà gbọ́mọgbọ́mọ (of a child)

See also

• abduction

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English kidnapping.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kid.na.piŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

Noun

kidnapping m (plural kidnappings)

1. a kidnapping

Further reading

• “kidnapping”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English kidnapping.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɪdnɑpɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Noun

kidnapping f or m (definite singular kidnappinga or kidnappingen, indefinite plural kidnappinger, definite plural kidnappingene)

1. kidnapping

Related terms

• kidnappe
• kidnapper

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English kidnapping.

Noun

kidnapping f (definite singular kidnappinga, indefinite plural kidnappingar, definite plural kidnappingane)

1. kidnapping

Related terms

• kidnappe
• kidnappar

References

• “kidnapping” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English kidnapping.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kidˈnapiŋ]

Noun

kidnapping n (uncountable)

1. (rare) kidnapping

   Synonym: răpire

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	kidnapping	kidnapping-ul
genitive-dative	kidnapping	kidnapping-ului
vocative	kidnapping-ule

References

• “kidnapping”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026