Chinese symbol for “back”
后
hòu
Traditional: 後
back; behind; rear; afterwards
The closest CC-CEDICT match for back is 后 (hòu), defined as: back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “back”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 后面 (後面) | hòu mian | the back; the rear; the last bit; behind; near the end; at the back |
| 背面 | bèi miàn | the back; the reverse side |
| 背部 | bèi bù | back (of a human or other vertebrate, or of an object) |
| 后边 (後邊) | hòu bian | the back; the rear; the last bit; behind; near the end; at the back |
| 后背 (後背) | hòu bèi | the back (human anatomy); the back part of sth |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 后.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 最后 (最後) | zuì hòu | final; last; ultimate; finally; in the end |
| 之后 (之後) | zhī hòu | after; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then |
| 然后 (然後) | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 以后 (以後) | yǐ hòu | after; later |
| 后来 (後來) | hòu lái | afterwards; later; newly arrived |
| 后面 (後面) | hòu mian | the back; the rear; the last bit; behind; near the end; at the back |
See also: Japanese symbol for “back”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.