后 - Dong Chinese dictionary

hòu

queen, after

Original meaning:

heir to the throne

Depicts a queen mother (母) giving birth to her heir (𠫓). Based on the original meaning "heir to the throne". The meaning later expanded to "ruler", "successor", and "after".

Components

母 Iconic component

mǔ

mother

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 母 than it was in ancient scripts.

𠫓 Iconic component

tū, yù

newborn

Depicts a child being born.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠫓 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Seal script

Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

后

hòu

queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after; empress; queen; (archaic) monarch; ruler

后

Hòu

surname Hou

后 (後)

hòu

behind, rear, after; descendents; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post-

Most common words with 后

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	后	back
	然后	after
	最后	final
	之后	afterwards
	以后	after

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

骺

Sound component in 5 characters (0 verified)

垢逅詬诟骺

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese	Middle Chinese	Pinyin	Gloss
*ɢˤ(r)oʔ	huwX	hòu	sovereign; queen

Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 99.5996% of movies

75th most common character in movies

48th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes	6
Simplified	后
Traditional	后後
Unicode	U+540E
Shuowen	“后，繼體君也。象人之形。施令以告四方，故厂之，从一、口。發號者，君后也。”