Chinese word

后来

Pronunciation

Pinyinhòu lái

Meaning

  • adverblater

Example

我后来才知道真相。wǒ hòu lái cái zhī dào zhēn xiàng

I only learned the truth later.

Illustration for 后来 (later)

More examples

他开始的时候很累，后来变得有精神了。tā kāi shǐ de shí hòu hěn lèi hòu lái biàn de yǒu jīng shén le

He was very tired at first, but later became full of energy.

Core concept

Marks a point farther along a past time line, where a new event or result appears.

Common phrases

  • 后来才知道hòu lái cái zhī dào

    only discover later

  • 后来变得hòu lái biàn de

    later become

Similar words

以后yǐ hòu: Refers to the time from a stated point onward, including the future.
然后rán hòu: Shows that one event happens next, usually soon after the previous event ends.
之后zhī hòu: Refers to the time that follows a stated event or point.

Definition in Chinese

表示某个过去时间之后发生的情况或变化，多用于叙述经历或说明结果。biǎo shì mǒu gè guò qù shí jiān zhī hòu fā shēng de qíng kuàng huò biàn huà duō yòng yú xù shù jīng lì huò shuō míng jié guǒ

Word origin

后 (hòu, "after") + 来 (lái, "come") expresses what comes after an earlier point, giving the compound its use for a later stage in a past account.

Usage tips

  • In a past-time story, it usually moves the timeline forward from an earlier event, whereas the closest English equivalent also commonly points to the future.

Other meanings

  • eventuallyadverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word