后 (hòu): back, behind, rear, afterwards, after, later
后 (hòu) is a Chinese character meaning “back.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural). It ranks #48 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- back
- behind
- rear
- afterwards
- after
- later
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 后
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 然后conjunction | rán hòu | then | 3 |
| 最后noun | zuì hòu | final | 3 |
| 之后noun | zhī hòu | after | 4 |
| 以后noun | yǐ hòu | after | 3 |
| 后面noun | hòu mian | the back | 2 |
| 后来noun | hòu lái | afterwards | 3 |
| 后悔verb | hòu huǐ | to regret | 4 |
| 背后noun | bèi hòu | behind | 5 |
| 后果noun | hòu guǒ | consequences | 5 |
| 后退verb | hòu tuì | to recoil | 6 |
| 落后verb/adjective | luò hòu | to fall behind | 6 |
| 今后noun | jīn hòu | hereafter | 4 |
| 随后adverb | suí hòu | afterward | 5 |
| 往后noun | wǎng hòu | from now on | 6 |
| 后代noun | hòu dài | descendant | 6 |
| 过后noun | guò hòu | after the event | 6 |
| 事后noun | shì hòu | after the event | 6 |
| 前后noun | qián hòu | around | 4 |
| 后者noun | hòu zhě | the latter | 6 |
| 此后noun | cǐ hòu | after this | 5 |
| 后天noun | hòu tiān | the day after tomorrow | 3 |
| 后期noun | hòu qī | late stage | 6 |
| 先后noun/adverb | xiān hòu | early or late | 5 |
| 日后noun | rì hòu | sometime | 6 |
| 后人noun | hòu rén | later generation | 6 |
| 后年noun | hòu nián | the year after next | 3 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 退后verb | tuì hòu | to stand back |
| 皇后noun | huáng hòu | empress |
| 稍后adverb | shāo hòu | in a little while |
| 身后noun | shēn hòu | the time after one's death |
| 后备adjective | hòu bèi | reserve |
| 幕后noun | mù hòu | behind the scenes |
| 后门noun | hòu mén | back door |
| 后台noun | hòu tái | backstage area |
| 后院noun | hòu yuàn | rear court |
| 酒后 | jiǔ hòu | after drinking |
| 后背noun | hòu bèi | the back (human anatomy) |
| 后座noun | hòu zuò | empress's throne |
| 后援noun | hòu yuán | reinforcement |
| 王后noun | wáng hòu | queen |
后 appears in 106 compound words: 60 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 2 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 后 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (48)
thinking and pondering (idiom); to turn sth over in one's mind; to consider repeatedly
to not be content to lag behind; to hate being outdone; to be not content to fall behind or not exceed
regardless of what's before or after (idiom); rushing blindly into sth
to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions
to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions
Showing 12 of 48 idioms containing 后.
Example Sentences
后来我才明白，他当时那样做是有自己的苦衷的。
Hòulái wǒ cái míngbai, tā dāngshí nàyàng zuò shì yǒu zìjǐ de kǔzhōng de.
Later I understood that he had his own difficulties in acting that way at the time.
对话上门做年夜饭的“95后”女生:回应春节当月收入..
duì huà shǎng mén zuò nián yè fàn de hòu nǚ shēng huí yīng chūn jié dāng yuè shōu rù . .
Dialogue on the door to do the New Year's Eve dinner of the "95" girls: response to the Chinese New Year when the monthly income...
阿福上春晚后爆火登顶AppStore:这4个宝藏用....
ā fú shǎng chūn wǎn hòu bào huǒ dēng dǐng zhè gě bǎo zàng yòng . . . .
Afu on the Spring Festival Gala after bursting into flames topped the AppStore: these 4 treasures with ....
马年新春第一班,武汉95后高铁司机的“飞驰人生”
mǎ nián xīn chūn dì yī bān , wǔ hàn hòu gāo tiě sī jī de fēi chí rén shēng
The first shift in the New Year of the Horse, Wuhan 95 high-speed train driver's "flying life".
东西问丨全球政要马年“集体说马” 背后藏着三重文化..
dōng xī wèn 丨 quán qiú zhèng yāo mǎ nián jí tī shuō mǎ bēi hòu zàng zhe sān chóng wén huā . .
The world's top politicians are talking about horses in the Year of the Horse, a trio of cultural...
守护万家灯火,90后山东小伙的萧山变电站除夕夜
shǒu hù mò jiā dēng huǒ , hòu shān dōng xiǎo huǒ de xiāo shān biàn diàn zhàn chú xī yè
Guarding the lights, 90 years after the Shandong boy's Xiaoshan substation New Year's Eve
请问最后一次开信箱在什么时间？
Qǐngwèn zuì hòu yīcì kāi xìnxiāng zài shénme shíjiān?
Excuse me, when was the mailbox last opened?
你放学以后干什么？
Nǐ fàngxué yǐhòu gànshénme?
What do you do after school?
你能在放学后帮助我们吗？
Nǐ néng zài fàngxuéhòu bāngzhù wǒmen ma?
Could you help us after school?
他最后一本小说的主题是什么？
Tā zuì hòu yī běn xiǎoshuō de zhǔtí shì shénme?
What is the theme of his latest novel?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are common words containing 后?
What characters sound the same as 后 (hòu)?
Is 后 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 后 with real-time feedback
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