母后

mǔhòu
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 royal mother (form of address used by emperor or imperial children for the empress / empress dowager)
  2. 2 queen mother
  3. 3 empress dowager (as a title)

Examples

Huángshàng xiàng mǔhòu qǐng'ān.
The Emperor pays his respects to the Empress Dowager.
Gōngzhǔ duì mǔhòu shuō: "Ér chén yuàn wǎng."
The princess said to her royal mother, 'Your humble daughter is willing to go.'

Tips

register
Historical / costume-drama vocabulary. In imperial usage, princes and princesses addressed their mother (the empress) as 母后, while addressing the emperor as (fùhuáng). Modern Chinese has no equivalent; use 妈妈 / 母亲 in everyday life.
mistakes
Don't read as hòu 'after / later'. Here means 'queen / sovereign' (same character used in 皇后 'empress'). Two distinct meanings packed into one character.

Stroke Order

hòu