‘课后’ literally combines ‘课’ (kè), meaning ‘class’ or ‘lesson’, and ‘后’ (hòu), meaning ‘after’ or ‘behind’. Together, it functions as an adverb or noun meaning ‘after class’ — referring to the time period immediately following a scheduled class session. It is commonly used in school and academic contexts to describe activities, routines, or states that occur once formal instruction ends.

This term appears frequently in daily school life: students may do homework, join clubs, rest, or review material ‘课后’. It can modify verbs (e.g., 课后复习 — ‘review after class’) or serve as a noun in phrases like 课后活动 (‘after-class activities’). Unlike broader temporal terms such as ‘放学后’ (after school dismissal), ‘课后’ specifically marks the interval after a single class — not necessarily the end of the entire school day.