DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

天后

Mandarin · pinyin Tiān hòu

Tin Hau, Empress of Heaven, another name for the goddess Matsu 媽祖 Mā zǔ
Tin Hau (Hong Kong area around the MTR station with same name)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
后: hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4 · Tian1 hou4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links1same-tone record1source reference

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

天后 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 5 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 hau6

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

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

name

(religion, Chinese mythology) epithet of the Fujianese sea goddess Mazu (媽祖)
(historical) regnal name of Wu Zetian
Tin Hau (an area of Hong Kong)

noun

(literary) emperor
(figurative) influential woman

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack