前仰后合
qián yǎng hoù hé · HSK 7
to sway to and fro
🪑 前 front + 仰 lean up + 后 back + 合 close: leaning forward then back
前 — top 丷 + 一 + 月 (moon) + 刂 (knife)
Originally written 歬, depicting a foot 止 above a boat 舟, meaning to advance or go forward. Over time the form evolved and the knife radical 刂 was added, while 止 and 舟 fused into the modern shape. The core meaning 'front, before, ahead' has stayed consistent.
仰 — person radical 亻 + 卬 (phonetic)
仰 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 亻 (person) radical gives the meaning, while 卬 supplies the sound; 卬 itself originally depicted one person standing and another kneeling looking up, so it also reinforces the sense. The character means to look up, and by extension to admire or rely on.
后 — 厂 cliff + 一 + 口 mouth
Originally depicted a ruler or sovereign issuing commands, showing a figure with a mouth giving orders. It came to mean 'queen' or 'empress.' In modern simplified Chinese, 后 also absorbed the meaning 'behind/after' from the traditional character 後, so context decides which sense applies.
合 — 乛 (lid/roof) + 口 (mouth)
Originally a pictograph of a lidded vessel — a cover (亼) closing over an opening (口) — giving the core sense of 'come together, join, fit.' From 'fit/match' it extended to 'combine, unite, agree' and to measure-word uses. The reading hé reflects this 'joining' meaning.