後
hu
Why 'behind' and 'later' are one character
The picture The side your back is turned to — where the stretch that has not caught up yet stands in line. 後 is the back's side, the stretch that comes later; 前 is the toes' side, the stretch that comes first.
Where the picture shows up in 後
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the stretch past the noon mark
오후(午後)에 전화드릴게요.
o-hu-e jeon-hwa-deu-ril-ge-yo
I'll call you in the afternoon.
On the line of a day, the stretch right of the noon mark, the sun beginning to tilt
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everything past that mark
그 일 이후(以後)로 안 만났어요.
geu il i-hu-ro an man-na-sseo-yo
I haven't seen them since that happened.
A mark drawn on one calendar square and everything to the right of it shaded in
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the later of two halves
후반(後半)에 역전했어요.
hu-ba-ne yeok-jeon-hae-sseo-yo
We turned the game around in the second half.
A match cut in two, with marks only on the half that comes later
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the spot with nobody behind
최후(最後)까지 남았어요.
choe-hu-kka-ji na-ma-sseo-yo
I stayed until the very end.
Standing alone at the tail after the line has drained away, nothing at all behind your back
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the person who came in behind you
그 사람은 회사 후배(後輩)예요.
geu sa-ra-meun hoe-sa hu-bae-ye-yo
He joined the company later than I did.
In the line that came through the same door, the person standing behind your back
All of it in one picture
後 is the side the back is turned to. On the line of a day, the stretch past the noon mark is the afternoon; everything lying past a given mark is 'after that'. Of a match cut in two, the part that comes later is the second half, and standing at the tail of a line with nobody behind you is the very last. And someone who entered the same path later than you, standing behind you, is your junior.