漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
後: behind, back
Also: later
彳 carries the meaning · 幺 and 夂 are drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Six readings, and the words that use each
ゴgo · on'yomi · in compounds
- 午後ごごafternoon, p.m.
- 最後さいごlast, ending
- 以後いごfrom now on
コウkou · on'yomi
- 後半こうはんsecond half
のちnochi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 後ほどのちほどlater
うしろushiro · kun'yomi
- 後ろうしろback, behind
あとato · kun'yomi
- 後であとでlater, afterwards
おくれるokureru · kun'yomi
- 手後れておくれbeing (too) late
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 明後日あさってday after tomorrow
Also read うしろ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)幺 thread + 夊 foot
In oracle bone script, ideogrammic compound (會意): 幺 (“thread”) + 夊 (“foot”) – a foot bound by a rope, thus lagging behind. The component 彳 was added afterwards to emphasize this action.
Source: Wiktionary, 後 (rev. 92541771), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Take the first step on your journey! These three quick strokes show the left side of a bustling street or a person taking a brisk step forward.”
Connections
In ChineseSimplified 后 · traditional, as in Japanese · hòu
Japan keeps the traditional form 後; mainland China simplifies it to 后.
- Simplified
- 后 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 後 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin hòu most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.