後
hòu HSK1

behind

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approved by Prismcool · Mar 30, 2026, 01:59 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Mar 30, 2026, 01:59 AM

In my opinion, no need to change it. Believe or not, both 夂 and 夊 are interchangeable since the graphs are practically 止 pointed in different directions. See: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/31273/36371

Depicts someone's foot (夂) being held back by a rope (幺), preventing them from being able to walk (彳) forward.

Components

彳
彳 Meaning component

彳 is a component form of 行.

幺
幺 Iconic component

Depicts a rope.

夂
夂 Iconic component

夂 is a component form of 止.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthuwX[ɢ]ˤ(r)oʔ after
huwH[ɢ]ˤ(r)oʔ-s put after ?

說文解字

《說文》：“後，遲也。从彳幺夊者，後也。，古文後从辵。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)