How to say "kidnapping" in Japanese

• 拉致らちCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers taking someone away by force and holding them captive; it stresses the forcible seizure and carrying-off rather than the abduction as a crime for ransom. Typical of news reports about people being forcibly taken across borders or detained.
  彼かれは四よん人にんの警官けいかんによって深夜しんや拉致らちされた。↗

  He was spirited away by four police officers in the middle of the night.
• 誘拐ゆうかいCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbThe general word for kidnapping or abduction in the ordinary sense, including taking a person, especially a child, for ransom or another purpose. This is the word you want in most everyday and news contexts.
  私はエイリアンに誘拐ゆうかいされていた。↗

  I was abducted by aliens.
• 略取りゃくしゅCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbA chiefly legal term for abduction carried out by means of violence or threats, as charged in criminal law. It seldom appears in everyday conversation; for ordinary kidnapping use 誘拐 instead.

For ordinary kidnapping in news or everyday use, 誘拐 is the default word; 拉致 emphasizes forcibly taking someone away or holding them captive, while 略取 is the legal term for abduction using violence or threats.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 拉致らちtaking captive
• 誘拐ゆうかいabduction
• 人さらいひとさらいkidnapping
• 略取誘拐罪りゃくしゅゆうかいざいkidnapping
• 誘拐事件ゆうかいじけんkidnapping
• 拐取かいしゅabduction
• 連れ去りつれさりabduction
• 誘拐罪ゆうかいざい(the crime of) kidnapping (kidnaping)
• 略取りゃくしゅabduction (using violence or threats)