Zi:后
后 [hòu] 王后 queen (太后 ‘empress dowager’); (F後) after, behind; later; future; (HDZ:) … [gòu] 逅/遘 [xiàng] (HDC:) 后/缿/項槖
2 monosyllabic entries in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):
►¹hòu* To view this entry, please log in
►²hòu To view this entry, please log in
The character 后 hòu conflates two old characters: ⑴ 后 hòu ‘monarch; queen’, and ⑵ 後 hòu ‘after’; today 后 is most often seen as the simple form of 後 hòu ‘after’.
The Shuōwén Seal form of 后 hòu ‘hereditary monarch/lord’ is said to combine 人 rén ‘person’, in a form rather like 𠂋(𡰣尸), with 口(𠙵) kǒu ‘mouth/speak/command’ (as in 命); the old meaning was ‘monarch/king’, and later ‘feudal lord’, ‘queen consort’ (王后, 皇后, 太后).
Compare: 君(𠱭) jūn ‘feudal lord’, syn. 后.
Compare: 司 sī ‘servant/minister’, which reverses 后; 垕(𠪋厚) hòu ‘thick/rich’ (后 is attested for 厚 in HDZ).
Older graphs (甲骨文) associated with 后 are thought to be connected with 毓(育) yù ‘a woman in childbirth’; in that character, on the left is 每(𡴋) ‘flourishing mother’ (augmented form of 母 ‘mother’), and on the right is 㐬(𡿮𠫓) liú ‘baby upside down’ (being born head-first, not a breech birth); in the modern character 后, think of 𠂋(𡰣尸) as the reclining mother, and of 口 as the crown of the child's head (cf. 司, 嗣, 始).
Note: The convention of using 后 for 後 is at least as old as the Book of Rites (禮記), one of the Confucian classics.
HDZ: 后 hòu : 君主; 诸侯; 帝王的妻子; 官长; 土神; 後 (ant. 先); 厚: 大, 重; 姤/逅/遘; (简化字) 後; (姓)
HDC: 繼體 : 嫡子继承帝位; 继位; 子女
►references: Guǎngyùn:325.15,437.34; Wieger:30c; Karlgren:AD78,81,GS112a,GSR112a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:1.580.1; Mathews:2144; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:176.01; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:031.0.07; Wáng(1993):25,191; EDOC:1
►components: 𠂋口𠂆一
►Cantonese: hauh-
<cdl char='后' uni='540E' points='0,0 128,124' radical='K4D1'>
<comp char='𠂋' uni='2008B' points='0,0 128,128' />
<comp char='口' uni='53E3' points='48,80 110,120' />
<!-- 2015-08-12T18:42:38Z -->
</cdl>
<cdl char='𠂋' uni='2008B'>
<comp char='𠂆' uni='20086' points='0,0 110,128' />
<stroke type='h' points='36,50 128,50' />
<!-- 2013-03-09T23:32:00Z -->
</cdl>
<cdl char='𠂆' uni='20086'>
<stroke type='p' points='128,0 30,22' />
<stroke type='wp' points='30,22 0,128' tail='long' />
</cdl>
<cdl char='口' uni='53E3' points='24,24 104,104'>
<comp char='冂' uni='5182' variant='5' points='0,0 128,128' />
<stroke type='h' points='0,128 128,128' head='cut' tail='cut' />
<!-- 2010-03-11T17:40:58Z -->
</cdl>
<cdl char='冂' uni='5182' variant='5' points='4,4 124,128'>
<stroke type='s' points='0,0 0,128' tail='long' />
<stroke type='hz' points='0,0 128,0 128,128' head='cut' tail='long' />
<!-- variant based on [U+EF7E](V=0) -->
</cdl>
►stroke 后 (... strokes)
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Unicode: U+540E
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