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Definition 2025

后

后

后 U+540E, 后
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-540E
← 名
[U+540D] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 吏 →
[U+540F]
See also: 後

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

后 (radical 30 口+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 竹一口 (HMR), four-corner 72261, composition ⿸𠂋口)

References

  • KangXi: page 176, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3298
  • Dae Jaweon: page 393, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 580, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+540E

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 后
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
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 *ɡoːs
缿 *ɡoːs, *ɡroːŋʔ

Lateral inversion of 后 generates 司 (OC *slɯ).

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

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
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɦəuX/ /ɦəuH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɦəuX/ /ɦəuH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɣəuX/ /ɣəuH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɦəwX/ /ɦəwH/
Li
Rong		 /ɣuX/ /ɣuH/
Wang
Li		 /ɣəuX/ /ɣəuH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ɣə̯uX/ /ɣə̯uH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 hòu hòu
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 后
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 hòu
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ huwX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢˤ(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

  1. †king; ruler; emperor
  2. †queen; empress
    王后  ―  wánghòu  ―  queen

Compounds

  • 皇天后土 (huángtiān hòutǔ)
  • 皇太后 (huángtàihòu)
  • 稱王封后／称王封后
  • 竇太后／窦太后
  • 群后
  • 蕭太后／萧太后
  • 西后
  • 西太后
  • 賀后罵殿／贺后骂殿
  • 賈后／贾后
  • 韋后／韦后
  • 風后／风后
  • 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 (“after”).
(This character, 后, is the simplified form of 後.)
Notes:

Japanese

Kanji

后

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. empress, queen

Readings

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
后
きさき
Grade: 6
kun'yomi

Unknown. Possibly originally a contraction of 君幸 ‎(kimi saki, literally “lordly good fortune”).

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

后 ‎(hiragana きさき, romaji kisaki)

  1. queen, empress
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
后
きさい
Grade: 6
kun'yomi

/kisaki/ → /kisai/

Sound shift from kisaki above. Appears to be less common in isolation than the kisaki reading above.[2][1]

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

后 ‎(hiragana きさい, romaji kisai)

  1. queen, empress

References

  1. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean

Hanja

后 • ‎(hu) (hangeul 후, McCune-Reischauer hu, Yale hwu)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

后 (hậu)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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