‘俘虏’ (fú lǔ) literally combines two characters: ‘俘’ meaning ‘to capture’ and ‘虏’ meaning ‘captive’ or ‘enemy captive’. Together, they form a compound word that primarily refers to a ‘prisoner of war’—a person captured during armed conflict. As a noun, it emphasizes the status of someone seized by an opposing military force. Historically, it appears frequently in accounts of wars, military histories, and wartime literature.

As a verb, ‘俘虏’ means ‘to take prisoner’ or ‘to capture alive’, often implying deliberate non-lethal seizure in combat. It carries formal, historical, or literary weight and is rarely used in casual speech about everyday situations. While both characters individually can appear in other compounds (e.g., 俘获 fú huò ‘to capture’), ‘俘虏’ as a fixed two-character term is strongly associated with warfare and military contexts—not general detention or arrest.