HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Time

后 hòu “after” in Chinese

Traditional 後

What 后 means

  1. after
  2. behind
  3. later
  4. back
  5. rear
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • afterwards

How to say 后

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale后hòu4th tone, falling

后 in a sentence

  1. 我一小时后给你打电话。

    Wǒ yì xiǎoshí hòu gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.

    I’ll call you in an hour.

    Sentence #13922461 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们晚饭后吃新鲜水果。

    Wǒmen wǎnfàn hòu chī xīnxiān shuǐguǒ.

    We have fresh fruit after dinner.

    Sentence #9958351 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我天黑后不喜欢出门。

    Wǒ tiānhēi hòu bù xǐhuan chūmén.

    I don’t like going out after dark.

    Sentence #333762 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 后 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 后 (hòu) drawn as one shape
后hòuempress

后 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidIts first meaning was “queen”. As a simplified character it also stands for 後: behind, after.

How to write 后

后 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

后 (hòu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 后 (hòu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 后

Words with 后

后面hòumiàn · back后来hòulái · afterwards最后zuìhòu · last然后ránhòu · then以后yǐhòu · after后天hòutiān · the day after tomorrow后年hòunián · the year after next后悔hòuhuǐ · to regret之后zhīhòu · after后背hòubèi · back (of the body)

More words: Time & Dates

白天báitiān · daytime今年jīnnián · this year明年míngnián · next year天tiān · day晚wǎn · evening之后zhīhòu · after之前zhīqián · before最终zuìzhōng · final

FAQs

后 (hòu) means “after” or “behind”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it hòu: hòu with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 后 is written 後. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type hou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后 from the suggestions. Typing hou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.