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后土

Mandarin · pinyin Hòu tǔ

Earth Deity (often paired with 皇天 Huáng tiān, August Heaven)

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Characters in this entry

后: hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
土: tǔ · soil, earth; items made of earth

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · Hou4 tu3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hau6 tou2

Cantonese word readings for 后土. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(literary) earth god; Houtu
(literary) the vast earth
(literary, of ancient China) official charged with managing land

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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