hòu
adjective HSK 4 #4,609

Meanings

  1. 1 thick (of flat objects)
  2. 2 deep; rich; generous
  3. 3 kind; sincere

Examples

HSK 1
Zhè běn shū hěn hòu.
This book is very thick.
HSK 2
Dōngtiān yào chuān hòu yīdiǎn de yīfu.
In winter you should wear thicker clothes.
HSK 3
Tā liǎnpí hěn hòu.
He is very thick-skinned (shameless).

Tips

usage
(thick, for flat things) vs (thick, for round things like ropes/trees). is also the opposite of (thin). 脸皮厚 means 'thick-skinned/shameless'.

Components

radical
hǎn
cliff; factory (modern)
Top-left cliff radical - the indexing radical, pictograph of a steep overhanging cliff face. In it represents the thick stone wall of a cliff: a deep, substantial mass of rock. Same family of cliff-base chars: (origin/plain), (disgust), (kitchen), (mansion). The modern simplification reuses for 'factory' but the original sense remains in .
semantic
sun; day
Inner upper - though now drawn as the sun, this position historically held 's older shape (a vessel marker). In modern analysis it reads cleanly as , contributing to the layered, dense feel of the character. Combined with (cliff) and (child) below, the visual stack suggests 'thick layers of stone, sun, and ground' - substance built up.
semantic
child; small thing
Inner lower - historically not the modern 'child' but a stylized vessel-base graph that has converged with in the modern shape. Together with above it gives the meaning 'thick, deep, substantial': the deep accumulated mass under the cliff. Modern means thick (厚墙 thick wall), generous (厚道 generous), or profound (深厚 deep).

Stroke Order

hòu