後
부수: 彳
획수: 9획
後 has the meanings after, next, end, rear and lower person.
後 = 彳 + 幺 + 夊
X = semantic + phonetic + semantic
• 彳 depicts an intersection of two roads and represents the meaning ‘to walk’.
• 幺 depicts a small number of silk threads.
• 夊 depicts a foot with the toes downward and represents the meaning ‘foot’.
There are two main ideas for how this character gets its meaning. The first suggests that ‘foot’ 夊 was used to mean ‘lag behind other people when walking’; and from this comes the meanings ‘behind’ and ‘delay’. The second suggests that ‘foot’ 夊 combined with ‘small thread’ 幺 is associated with the meanings ‘go backwards’ and ‘be behind’.
Evolution:
後 = to lag behind (walking) ➔ behind ➔ descendant
後 = to lag behind (walking) ➔ behind ➔ rear
後 = to lag behind (walking) ➔ behind ➔ next
後 = to lag behind (walking) ➔ behind ➔ after
後 = to lag behind (walking) ➔ behind ➔ late
Mnemonic
Imagine two students walking towards an intersection 彳. The 후배(後輩) is walking several paces behind, dragging his feet 夊 with his shoes untied 幺 — while the 선배(先輩) is getting impatient.
Vocab
| 後 | 후 | after |
| 午後 | 오후 | afternoon |
| 以後 | 이후 | after this |
| 後産 | 후산 | after birth |
| 後半 | 후반 | the second half |
| 直後 | 직후 | immediately after |
| 後悔 | 후회 | regret |
| 事後 | 사후 | ex post facto |
| 後發 | 후발 | late start |
| 向後 | 향후 | henceforth |
| 後世 | 후세 | future generations |
| 後繼者 | 후계자 | successor |
| 後期 | 후기 | the latter period |
| 豫後 | 예후 | prognosis |
| 最後 | 최후 | the very end |
| 背後 | 배후 | the rear |
| 後方 | 후방 | the rear area |
| 後退 | 후퇴 | retreat (military) |
| 前後 | 전후 | front and back; sequence |
| 後援 | 후원하다 | support; backing |
| 後輩 | 후배 | one’s junior |
| 後學 | 후학 | junior students |
Other resources
Image searches
Google
Bing
Yahoo Japan
Baidu (click 图片)
Sogou
Pinterest
Flickr
CJKV
CJKV Dict
Wikitionary
Unihan Database
Korean
Chinese
Written Chinese
Arch Chinese
ZDic
CC-Canto
Chinese Text Project
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (etymology)
Chinese Boost
Japanese
Takoboto
Jisho
JLearn.net
Sakura
The Kanji Map
Sentence Search
Immersion Kit
Vietnamese
Bibliography
Affiliate links help support uK.
— Daum 사전, [s.v. 後].
— Grant, B.K. (1982). A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja, [s.v. 612]. Seoul: Hollym.
— Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, [s.v. 後, 彳, 幺, 夊].
— Seely, C., Henshall, K.G., & Fan, J. (2016). The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Japanese Characters, [s.v. 123]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.