HSK 6 · Emotions

后顾之忧 hòugùzhīyōu “worries back home” in Chinese

Traditional 後顧之憂

What 后顾之忧 means

  1. worries back home
  2. concerns about the future
  3. fears of trouble in the rear (idiom)
  4. family worries (obstructing freedom of action)
  5. worries about the future consequences
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • often in negative expressions, meaning “no worries about anything”

How to say 后顾之忧

  • 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顾gù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale之zhī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale忧yōu1st tone, high and level

后顾之忧 in a sentence

  1. 父母身体很好，他工作没有后顾之忧。

    Fùmǔ shēntǐ hěn hǎo, tā gōngzuò méiyǒu hòugùzhīyōu.

    His parents are in good health, so he has no worries back home while he works.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 公司为员工解决了孩子上学的后顾之忧。

    Gōngsī wèi yuángōng jiějué le háizi shàngxué de hòugùzhīyōu.

    The company took care of staff members’ worries about their children’s schooling.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 后顾之忧 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 顾 (gù) with each of its parts in a different colour
顾gùto look after
  • 厄adversity · èSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 厄 (è) hints at the sound. Compare it with gù.

The character 之 (zhī) drawn as one shape
之zhīhim

之 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 忧 (yōu) with each of its parts in a different colour
忧yōuto worry
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 尤especially · yóuSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 尤 (yóu) hints at the sound. Compare it with yōu.

How to write 后顾之忧

后 6 strokes · 顾 10 strokes · 之 3 strokes · 忧 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 后顾之忧

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 顾

照顾zhàogu · take care of顾客gùkè · customer回顾huígù · to look back顾虑gùlǜ · worry顾问gùwèn · adviser不顾búgù · regardless of不屑一顾búxièyígù · to disdain统筹兼顾tǒngchóujiāngù · to plan as a whole and consider all aspects

Words with 之

之zhī · of (formal equivalent of 的)之后zhīhòu · after之前zhīqián · before之间zhījiān · between百分之bǎifēnzhī · per cent总之zǒngzhī · in a word反之fǎnzhī · conversely之际zhījì · at the time of天伦之乐tiānlúnzhīlè · family happiness当务之急dāngwùzhījí · top priority

Words with 忧

忧郁yōuyù · melancholy无忧无虑wúyōuwúlǜ · carefree

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

顾虑gùlǜ · worry过瘾guòyǐn · to satisfy a craving恨不得hènbude · to be dying to狠心hěnxīn · heartless欢乐huānlè · joy悔恨huǐhèn · remorse活该huógāi · serves (someone) right焦急jiāojí · anxious

FAQs

后顾之忧 (hòugùzhīyōu) means “worries back home” or “concerns about the future”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it hòugùzhīyōu: hòu with a 4th tone, then gù with a 4th tone, then zhī with a 1st tone, then yōu with a 1st 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, 后顾之忧 is written 後顧之憂. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type houguzhiyou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后顾之忧 from the suggestions. Typing houguzhiyou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后顾之忧 is an HSK 6 word in the 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.