走后门
zoǔ hoù mén · HSK 7
fig. to gain influence by pull or unofficial channels
🚪 走 walk + 后门 back door = walk in through the back door to pull strings
走 means to walk or go, 后 is back/behind, and 门 is door, so 后门 is the back door. Walking in the back instead of the front entrance means skipping the official line and using connections or favors to get what you want.
走 — person running 夭 + foot 止
Originally a pictograph of a person with arms swinging (夭) above a foot (止), depicting someone running. The bottom 止 (foot) was later simplified to a form resembling 火 in modern script. The original sense was 'to run,' which still survives in compounds; the everyday meaning shifted to 'to walk' or 'to go.'
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.
门 — pictograph of double-leaf gate
门 is a pictograph showing a pair of swinging doors hung in a doorway, originally drawn as 門 in oracle-bone script with two clear leaves. The simplified form 门 keeps the same outline with fewer strokes. It still means 'gate' or 'door' and serves as a phonetic in characters like 们, 问, and 闷.