DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

馬後炮

简马后炮 · 繁馬後炮

Mandarin · pinyin mǎ hòu pào

(Chinese chess) moving the cannon after moving the horse away
(fig.) a useless action or comment; sth done after it's too late

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

馬: Look up this written character
後: hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
炮: pào · large gun, cannon; artillery
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187
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

3–4–4 · ma3 hou4 pao4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links1same-tone record

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.

馬後炮 · find source passages ↗ · 马后炮 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maa5 hau6 paau3

Cantonese word readings for 馬後炮. 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.

noun

(xiangqi) “cannon shot behind horse”, a position in which one's general is checkmated by the opponent's horse and cannon
(idiomatic, figurative) belated effort or action; twenty-twenty hindsight

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

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