Sentence #5571069 from Tatoeba · translation adapted
How 后天 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.
天tiānday
一one · yī
大big · dà
Memory aidA person 大 with the sky 一 above: sky, heaven, day.
How to write 后天
后 6 strokes · 天 4 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 后天 (hòutiān). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
后天 (hòutiān) means “the day after tomorrow” or “life after birth (the period in which one develops through experiences, contrasted with 先天)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it hòutiān: hòu with a 4th tone, then tiān 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, 后天 is written 後天. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type houtian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后天 from the suggestions. Typing houtian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后天 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 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.
后hòu4th tone, falling
天tiān1st tone, high and level
