Definition & Meaning

1.afterwards; later

2.newly arrived/come; late developing

Word usage

hòu lái

后 来

Level:

HSK3 NHSK 2 ZW3 ESC5More

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Chinese dictionary
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1
n.afterwards; later
- hòu lái tā zài yě méi yǒu huí lái guo
  后来他再也没有回来过。
  After that he never came back again.
- hòu lái tā hái shi dā ying le
  后来她还是答应了。
  Afterwards, she still agreed.
- zhè shì hòu lái fā shēng de shì qing
  这是后来发生的事情。
  This happened afterwards.
synonym
zhī hòu之后 yǐ hòu以后 qí hòu其后 hòu tou后头
antonym
dāng chū当初 xiān qián先前 qǐ chū起初 qǐ xiān起先 qǐ tóu起头 chū shí初时
2
adj.newly arrived/come; late developing
- hòu lái zhě jū shàng
  后来者居上。
  The latecomers surpass the old-timers.
- gěi hòu lái de rén dōu liú yǒu zuò wèi
  给后来的人都留有座位。
  There are seats reserved for the late comers.
- gēn wǒ men xiāng bǐ tā shì hòu lái rén
  跟我们相比，他是后来人。
  Compared with us, he is a latecomer.

Word usage

Note
1. "后来" is different from "以后". 1) "后来" can only be used alone, not as a post component; "以后" can be used alone or as a post component to form a positional phrase indicating time, such as "解放以后". 2) "后来" can only refer to the past time. For example, you can say "以后你要努力" instead of "后来你要努力"; "以后" can refer to the time in the past or the time in the future. 2. When "后来" used in "他先来，我后来", it means "后到" and is a verb phrase, not a temporal noun.

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