思前想后 (sī qián xiǎng hòu)

Character breakdown

• 思 (sī) · 9 strokes

  Thought is associated with the head (囟) and heart (心). 囟 is also a phonetic component.

• 前 (qián) · 9 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 歬 represents the sound, and 刂 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "cut", now written as 剪. The current meaning "in front" is a phonetic loan.

• 想 (xiǎng) · 13 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 相 represents the sound.

• 后 (Hòu) · 6 strokes

  Depicts a queen mother (母) giving birth to her heir (𠫓). Based on the original meaning "heir to the throne". The meaning later expanded to "ruler", "successor", and "after".

Usage

我思前想后，还是决定不接受这份工作。

After thinking it over carefully, I still decided not to accept this job.

Wǒ sī qián xiǎng hòu, hái shì jué dìng bù jiē shòu zhè fèn gōng zuò.