‘夺爱’ literally means ‘to seize love’ — combining 夺 (duó, ‘to seize, snatch, or take by force’) and 爱 (ài, ‘love’ or ‘lover’). It is a vivid, somewhat literary verb describing the act of stealing someone else’s romantic partner, usually through charm, deception, or opportunism. Unlike neutral terms like ‘dating someone’, 夺爱 carries strong connotations of rivalry, emotional violation, and moral disapproval.

This word appears frequently in novels, TV dramas, and gossip contexts — especially when portraying love triangles or betrayal. It emphasizes the *act of taking* rather than the resulting relationship, and often implies the original couple was stable before the interference. While grammatically it functions as a transitive verb, it’s rarely used in formal or academic writing; instead, it thrives in expressive, emotionally charged speech and storytelling.