后

Historical forms of the character 后
Shang	Spring and Autumn	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (后) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
垢	*koːʔ
詬	koːʔ, kʰoːs, *qʰoːs
茩	*koːʔ
姤	*koːs
銗	*ɡoː
骺	*ɡoː
后	ɡoːʔ, ɡoːs
垕	*ɡoːʔ
郈	*ɡoːʔ
逅	*ɡoːs
鲘
缿	ɡoːs, ɡroːŋʔ

Oracle bone inscriptions often wrote 后 as 毓, depicting a woman giving birth. Wang Guowei posits the meaning extended from childbirth to succession, then to empress. In the modern form, the birthing figure would be 𠂆 and the child figure 𠮛.^[1]

According to Kōjien^{[zh 1]} and 学研漢和大字典, ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 人 (“person (variant form)”) + 口 (“hole”) — a depiction of a person's (人) anus, with the additional meaning of “behind”, “rear”, as well as coming to mean “emperor/empress”, who would live in a palace “behind” worldly troubles.

Etymology 1

simp. and trad.		后

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-gaw (“head”). Cognate with Tibetan གོ (go, “head; headman”), མགོ (mgo, “head, top, beginning”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): hòu (hou⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄏㄡˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): hau⁶
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): heu
Eastern Min (BUC): hâiu
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): hiō / hiǒ / hō͘

(Teochew, Peng'im): hou⁶
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶gheu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: hòu
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄡˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: hòu
  - Wade–Giles: hou⁴
  - Yale: hòu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: how
  - Palladius: хоу (xou)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xoʊ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: hau⁶
  - Yale: hauh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: hau⁶
  - Guangdong Romanization: heo⁶
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɐu̯²²/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: heu
  - Hakka Romanization System: heu
  - Hagfa Pinyim: heu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /heu̯⁵⁵/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: hâiu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɑu²⁴²/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hiō
  - Tâi-lô: hiō
  - Phofsit Daibuun: hioi
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /hiɤ³³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hio⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /hio³³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /hio²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hiǒ
  - Tâi-lô: hiǒ
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hio²²/
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hō͘
  - Tâi-lô: hōo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: ho
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hɔ⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /hɔ³³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /hɔ²²/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: hou⁶
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: hŏu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hou³⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁶gheu
  - MiniDict: gheu^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³hheu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦɤ²³/

Middle Chinese: huwX, huwH

Rime
Character	后	后
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	匣 (33)	匣 (33)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	胡口切	胡遘切
Baxter	huwX	huwH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦəu^X/	/ɦəu^H/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦəu^X/	/ɦəu^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣəu^X/	/ɣəu^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦəw^X/	/ɦəw^H/
Li Rong	/ɣu^X/	/ɣu^H/
Wang Li	/ɣəu^X/	/ɣəu^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ɣə̯u^X/	/ɣə̯u^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	hòu	hòu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hau⁶	hau⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*ɢˤ(r)oʔ/

(Zhengzhang): /*ɡoːʔ/, /*ɡoːs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	后
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	hòu
Middle Chinese	‹ huw^X ›
Old Chinese	/*ɢˁ(r)oʔ/
English	sovereign; queen
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	后	后
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	5168	5172
Phonetic component	后	后
Rime group	侯	侯
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	厚	𠋫
Old Chinese	/*ɡoːʔ/	/*ɡoːs/

Definitions

后

^† king; ruler; emperor
后稷 ― Hòujì ― Hou Ji, (literally, “Lord of Millet”) - legendary Chinese cultural hero and progenitor of the Zhou dynasty
^⁜ queen; empress
王后 ― wánghòu ― queen
(chess) queen
a surname

Usage notes

The surname 后 (hòu) is not to be confused with the surname 後 / 后 (hòu).

Compounds

仙后座 (Xiānhòuzuò)
元后
后冠 (hòuguān)
后土 (hòutǔ)
后妃 (hòufēi)
后帝 (hòudì)
后座 (hòuzuò)
后王 (hòuwáng)
后皇
后稷 (Hòujì)
后羿 (Hòuyì)
后羿射日
后辛
后辟
后里 (Hòulǐ)
夏后氏 (Xiàhòushì)
大天后宮
天后 (Tiānhòu)
太后 (tàihòu)
太皇太后 (tài huáng tàihòu)
川后
影后 (yǐnghòu)
慈安太后
慈禧太后 (Cíxǐ Tàihòu)
武后
母后 (mǔhòu)
王后 (wánghòu)
甄后
皇后 (huánghòu)
皇太后 (huángtàihòu)
皇天后土 (huángtiānhòutǔ)
稱王封后
竇太后
群后
蕭太后
西后
西太后 (Xītàihòu)
賀后罵殿 / 贺后骂殿
賈后
韋后
風后
馬后練服 / 马后练服
齊后破環 / 齐后破环

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 后 – see 後 (“behind; rear; back; later; after; afterwards; etc.”). (This character is the simplified and variant form of 後).
Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Usage notes

In the traditional-Chinese literate context, the use of 后 (hòu) as a variant of 後 is mostly confined to the occurrences in a few well-known historical texts such as the Great Learning (《大學》).