Wǒ de chē wǒ shàng ge yuè xiūhǎo le, hòulái yòu huài le.
I fixed my car last month, but later it broke down again.
Sentence #8645583 from Tatoeba · translation adapted
How 后来 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.
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.
来láito come
未part of the character
丷eight form of 八 · bā
Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.
How to write 后来
后 6 strokes · 来 7 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 后来 (hòulái). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
后来 (hòulái) means “afterwards” or “after”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it hòulái: hòu with a 4th tone, then lái with a 2nd 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, 后来 is written 後來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type houlai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后来 from the suggestions. Typing houlai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后来 is an HSK 3 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
后hòu4th tone, falling
来lái2nd tone, rising
