used to refer to the second of two things or people mentioned (提及的两者中)后者的 nearer to the end of a period of time than the beginning 后半期的;后面的 the latter half of the year 下半年 during the latter stages of the tournament 在比赛的后期阶段 The latter half of the twentieth century saw huge growth in air travel. 航空旅行在20世纪后半期有了巨幅增长。
recent 最近的 In latter years, the population has grown a lot here. 这里的人口最近几年增长了很多。
compare former
Word OriginOld English lætra ‘slower’, comparative of læt, of Germanic origin; related to German lass, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin lassus ‘weary’ and let.