HSK 5 · Body

后背 hòubèi “back (of the body)” in Chinese

Traditional 後背

What 后背 means

  1. back (of the body)
  2. the back (human anatomy)
  3. the back part of sth

How to say 后背

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale后hòu4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale背bèi4th tone, falling

后背 in a sentence

  1. 我的后背有点儿痒。

    Wǒ de hòubèi yǒudiǎnr yǎng.

    My back is a bit itchy.

    Sentence #14027269 from Tatoeba

How 后背 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.

The character 背 (bèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
背bèithe back of a body or object
  • 北north · běiSound part
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); 北 (běi) hints at the sound. Compare it with bèi.

How to write 后背

后 6 strokes · 背 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 后背

Words with 后

后hòu · after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

Words with 背

背bēi · to carry on one’s back背景bèijǐng · background背叛bèipàn · to betray背诵bèisòng · to recite (from memory)违背wéibèi · to go against

More words: People, Body & Health

打喷嚏dǎpēntì · to sneeze骨头gǔtou · bone挂号guàhào · to register (at a hospital)过敏guòmǐn · allergic怀孕huáiyùn · to be pregnant呼吸hūxī · to breathe肌肉jīròu · muscle肩膀jiānbǎng · shoulder

FAQs

后背 (hòubèi) means “back (of the body)” or “the back (human anatomy)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it hòubèi: hòu with a 4th tone, then bèi 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, 后背 is written 後背. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type houbei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后背 from the suggestions. Typing houbei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后背 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.