敲诈

• Pinyin: qiāo zhà
• Hanzi breakdown: 敲 = 高 + 攴 (to beat); 诈 = 讠(speech radical) + 乍 (suddenly — to speak deceptively, to defraud)

Meaning

To extort; to blackmail; to obtain money or benefits from someone by threats or intimidation.

Used in legal, journalistic, and everyday contexts. Often appears in the compound 敲诈勒索 (extortion and blackmail), which is the standard legal term for this crime in Chinese criminal law. Stronger and more serious than simple deception (欺骗) — it specifically involves coercion or threats.

Examples

1. 他以公开隐私相威胁，企图敲诈这位明星，结果被警方当场抓获。 He threatened to expose private information to try to blackmail the celebrity, but he was caught on the spot by the police.
2. 检察机关对涉嫌敲诈勒索的团伙展开调查，多名成员已被依法逮捕。 Prosecutors launched an investigation into a gang suspected of extortion, and multiple members have been arrested in accordance with the law.
3. 网络上出现了一种新型诈骗手段，犯罪分子入侵个人电脑后以泄露数据相要挟，进行敲诈。 A new type of online scam has appeared: criminals hack into personal computers and then blackmail victims by threatening to leak their data.

Usage Guide

Context: law, news, crime

Tone: negative

Do Say

• 受害人反映，嫌疑人掌握了她的个人信息后多次发来威胁短信，声称若不支付指定金额便将隐私散布网络，手段属于典型的敲诈勒索。(The victim reported that after the suspect obtained her personal information, he repeatedly sent threatening messages claiming he would post her private information online unless a specified sum was paid — a textbook case of extortion.)
• 该公司高管被竞争对手雇佣的人员敲诈，对方以散布虚假丑闻相要挟，迫使其签署了一份不平等的商业协议。(A senior executive at the company was extorted by individuals hired by a rival, who threatened to spread false scandals unless he signed an inequitable commercial agreement.)

Don't Say

• 他把价格定得很高，真是敲诈 — overcharging is not extortion in the legal sense; use 宰客 (rip off customers) or 漫天要价 (ask an outrageous price) for commercial overpricing without threats

Origin & History

敲 (to knock/beat — knock money out of someone) + 诈 (to deceive/defraud)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal