断后 (duàn hòu) — to bring up the rear; to act as rear guard; to have no descendants; to be the last generation of a family
Definition
断后 is a verb with two distinct senses: in military/formation contexts it means 'to guard the rear'; in family contexts it means 'to have no descendants, to be the last generation'. The two senses are unrelated — context disambiguates.
verb
to bring up the rearto act as rear guardto have no descendantsto be the last generation of a family
Examples
- ，断后。Wǒ men pái hǎo duì, yóu tā fù zé duàn hòu.We formed a line, and he was responsible for bringing up the rear.
- ，。Tā men yì jiā sān dài dān chuán, dào tā jiù duàn le hòu.His family had only one child per generation for three generations, and with him the line ended.
- 断后。Lǎo zhāng fēi cháng dān xīn zì jǐ huì duàn hòu.Old Zhang is very worried that he will have no descendants.
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