Bopomofo

Bopomofo 注音符號
百科全書 (encyclopedia) in Zhuyin Fuhao
Type	Semisyllabary (letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Creator	Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation Introduced by the Beiyang government of the ROC
Time period	1918 to 1958 in mainland China; 1945 to the present in Taiwan
Parent systems	Oracle Bone Script Seal Script Clerical Script Bopomofo 注音符號
Child systems	Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols, Suzhou Phonetic Symbols, Hmu Phonetic Symbols
Sister systems	Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Bopo, 285
Unicode alias	Bopomofo
Unicode range	U+3100–U+312F Bopomofo U+31A0–U+31BF Bopomofo Extended
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

This article contains ruby annotation. Without proper rendering support, you may see transcriptions in parentheses after the character instead of ruby glosses.

Mandarin Phonetic Symbol
Traditional Chinese	注音符號
Simplified Chinese	注音符号
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin zhùyīn fúhào Bopomofo ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Juh'in fwuhaw Wade–Giles Chu4-yin1 fu2-hao4 Tongyong Pinyin Jhùyin fúhào MPS2 Jùyīn fúhàu IPA [ʈʂû.ín fǔ.xâu] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jyuyām Fùhhóu Jyutping Zyu3jam1 Fu4hou2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chù-im hû-hō Tâi-lô Tsù-im hû-hō

Chinese romanisation
Mandarin
Standard Chinese Hanyu Pinyin (ISO standard) EFEO Gwoyeu Romatzyh Spelling conventions Latinxua Sin Wenz Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II Postal romanisation Tongyong Pinyin Wade–Giles Yale romanisation Lessing-Othmer Legge romanisation Simplified Wade Comparison chart
Sichuanese Sichuanese Pinyin Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz
Wu
Wenzhounese Wenzhounese romanisation
Yue
Cantonese Jyutping Yale romanisation Guangdong Romanisation Hong Kong Government Macau Government Meyer–Wempe Sidney Lau S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols) S. L. Wong (romanisation) Cantonese Pinyin Standard Romanisation Barnett–Chao Comparison chart
Southern Min
Taiwanese, Amoy and related Pe̍h-ōe-jī Modern Literal Taiwanese Phofsit Daibuun Bbánlám pìngyīm Daighi tongiong pingim TLPA Tâi-lô Comparison chart
Teochew Peng'im
Eastern Min
Fuzhou dialect Foochow Romanised Fuzhou Transliteration Scheme
Northern Min
Jian'ou dialect Kienning Colloquial Romanised
Pu-Xian Min
Putian dialect Hinghwa Romanised
Hainanese
Haikou dialect Hainan Romanised
Wenchang dialect Hainanhua Pinyin Fang'an
Hakka
Meixian dialect Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an Hagfa Pinyim
Sixian dialect Pha̍k-fa-sṳ TLPA
Gan
Chang-Du dialect Pha̍k-oa-chhi
See also
Other transliterations General Chinese Cyrillisation Xiao'erjing 'Phags-pa script Bopomofo Taiwanese kana Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols Mongolian transliteration of Chinese characters Manchu transliteration Transcription into Chinese
By place Romanisation in Hong Kong Romanisation in Singapore Romanisation in Taiwan
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History of the alphabet Egyptian hieroglyphs 32 c. BCE Hieratic 32 c. BCE Demotic 7 c. BCE Meroitic 3 c. BCE Proto-Sinaitic 19 c. BCE Ugaritic 15 c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE Ge’ez 5–6 c. BCE Phoenician 12 c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE Samaritan 6 c. BCE Libyco-Berber 3 c. BCE Tifinagh Paleohispanic (semi-syllabic) 7 c. BCE Aramaic 8 c. BCE Kharoṣṭhī 4 c. BCE Brāhmī 4 c. BCE Brahmic family (see) E.g. Tibetan 7 c. CE Devanagari 10 c. CE Canadian syllabics 1840 Hebrew 3 c. BCE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Palmyrene 2 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Nabataean 2 c. BCE Arabic 4 c. CE N'Ko 1949 CE Sogdian 2 c. BCE Orkhon (old Turkic) 6 c. CE Old Hungarian c. 650 CE Old Uyghur Mongolian 1204 CE Mandaic 2 c. CE Greek 8 c. BCE Etruscan 8 c. BCE Latin 7 c. BCE Cherokee (syllabary; letter forms only) c. 1820 CE Runic 2 c. CE Ogham (origin uncertain) 4 c. CE Coptic 3 c. CE Gothic 3 c. CE Armenian 405 CE Georgian (origin uncertain) c. 430 CE Glagolitic 862 CE Cyrillic c. 940 CE Old Permic 1372 CE Hangul 1443 Thaana 18 c. CE (derived from Brahmi numerals)

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Zhuyin Fuhao (Chinese: 注音符號; pinyin: zhùyīn fúhào), Zhuyin (Chinese: 注音), Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols is the major Chinese transliteration system for Taiwanese Mandarin. It is also used to transcribe other Chinese languages, particularly other varieties of Standard Chinese and related Mandarin dialects, as well as Taiwanese Hokkien.

Zhuyin Fuhao and Zhuyin are traditional terms, whereas Bopomofo is the colloquial term, also used by the ISO and Unicode. Consisting of 37 characters and four tone marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Zhuyin was introduced in China by the Republican Government in the 1910s and used alongside the Wade-Giles system, which used a modified Latin alphabet. The Wade system was replaced by Hanyu Pinyin in 1958 by the Government of the People's Republic of China,^[1] and at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982.^[2] Although Taiwan adopted Hanyu Pinyin as its official romanization system in 2009,^[3] Bopomofo is still an official transliteration system there and remains widely used as an educational tool and for electronic input methods.

Name[edit]

The informal name "Bopomofo" is derived from the first four syllables in the conventional ordering of available syllables in Mandarin Chinese. The four Bopomofo characters (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) that correspond to these syllables are usually placed first in a list of these characters. The same sequence is sometimes used by other speakers of Chinese to refer to other phonetic systems.^{[citation needed]}

The original formal name of the system was Guóyīn Zìmǔ (traditional 國音字母, simplified 国音字母, lit. "Phonetic Alphabet of the National Language") and Zhùyīn Zìmǔ (traditional 註音字母, simplified 注音字母, lit. "Phonetic Alphabet" or "Annotated Phonetic Letters").^[4] It was later renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào (traditional 注音符號, simplified 注音符号), meaning "phonetic symbols".

In official documents, Zhuyin is occasionally called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as "MPS I" (注音一式).

In English translations, the system is often also called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols.^[4][5] A romanized phonetic system was released in 1984 as Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (MPS II).

History[edit]

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Wu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Zhuyin Zimu,^[4] which was based on Zhang Binglin's shorthand. A draft was released on July 11, 1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until November 23, 1928.^[4] It was later renamed first Guoyin Zimu and then, in April 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao. The last renaming addressed fears that the alphabetic system might independently replace Chinese characters.^[6]

Modern use in Taiwan[edit]

Zhuyin remains the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in elementary school in Taiwan. It is also one of the most popular ways to enter Chinese characters into computers and smartphones and to look up characters in a dictionary.

In elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Zhuyin as ruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one children's newspaper in Taiwan, the Mandarin Daily News, annotates all articles with Zhuyin ruby characters.

In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some overseas communities use Zhuyin as a learning tool.

Etymology[edit]

The Zhuyin characters were created by Zhang Binglin, and taken mainly from "regularised" forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. It is to be noted that the first consonants are articulated from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, /l/ etc.

Origin of zhuyin symbols

Consonants
Zhuyin	Origin[citation needed]	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄅ	From 勹, the ancient form and current top portion of 包 bāo	p	b	p	八 (ㄅㄚ, bā)
ㄆ	From 攵, the combining form of 攴 pū	pʰ	p	pʻ	杷 (ㄆㄚˊ, pá)
ㄇ	From 冂, the archaic character and current radical 冖 mì	m	m	m	馬 (ㄇㄚˇ, mǎ)
ㄈ	From 匚 fāng	f	f	f	法 (ㄈㄚˇ, fǎ)
ㄉ	From 𠚣, archaic form of 刀 dāo. Compare the Shuowen seal .	t	d	t	地 (ㄉㄧˋ, dì)
ㄊ	From 𠫓 tū, upside-down form of 子 zǐ ( and in seal script)[7]	tʰ	t	tʻ	提 (ㄊㄧˊ, tí)
ㄋ	From /𠄎, ancient form of 乃 nǎi	n	n	n	你 (ㄋㄧˇ, nǐ)
ㄌ	From 𠠲, archaic form of 力 lì	l	l	l	利 (ㄌㄧˋ, lì)
ㄍ	From the obsolete character 巜 guì/kuài "river"	k	g	k	告 (ㄍㄠˋ, gào)
ㄎ	From the archaic character 丂 kǎo	kʰ	k	kʻ	考 (ㄎㄠˇ, kǎo)
ㄏ	From the archaic character and current radical 厂 hǎn	x	h	h	好 (ㄏㄠˇ, hǎo)
ㄐ	From the archaic character 丩 jiū	tɕ	j	ch	叫 (ㄐㄧㄠˋ, jiào)
ㄑ	From the archaic character 𡿨 quǎn, graphic root of the character 巛 chuān (modern 川)	tɕʰ	q	chʻ	巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ	From 丅, an ancient form of 下 xià.	ɕ	x	hs	小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ	From /𡳿, archaic form of 之 zhī.	ʈʂ	zhi, zh-	ch	知 (ㄓ, zhī), 主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ	From the character and radical 彳 chì	ʈʂʰ	chi, ch-	chʻ	吃 (ㄔ, chī), 出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ	From 𡰣, an ancient form of 尸 shī	ʂ	shi, sh-	sh	是 (ㄕˋ, shì) , 束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ	Modified from the seal script form of 日 rì	ɻ~ʐ	ri, r-	j	日 (ㄖˋ, rì), 入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ	From the archaic character and current radical 卩 jié, dialectically zié ([tsjě]; tsieh² in Wade–Giles)	ts	zi, z-	ts	字 (ㄗˋ, zì), 在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ	From 𠀁, archaic form of 七 qī, dialectically ciī ([tsʰí]; tsʻi¹ in Wade–Giles). Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script .	tsʰ	ci, c-	tsʻ	詞 (ㄘˊ, cí), 才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ	From the archaic character 厶 sī, which was later replaced by its compound 私 sī.	s	si, s-	s	四 (ㄙˋ, sì), 塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Rhymes and medials
Zhuyin	Origin	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄚ	From 丫 yā	a	a	a	大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ	From the obsolete character 𠀀 hē, inhalation, the reverse of 丂 kǎo, which is preserved as a phonetic in the compound 可 kě.[8]	o	o	o	多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ	Derived from its allophone in Standard Chinese, ㄛ o	ɤ	e	o/ê	得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ	From 也 yě. Compare the Warring States bamboo form	e	ê	eh	爹 (ㄉㄧㄝ, diē)
ㄞ	From 𠀅 hài, archaic form of 亥.	ai	ai	ai	晒 (ㄕㄞˋ, shài)
ㄟ	From 乁 yí, an obsolete character meaning 移 yí "to move".	ei	ei	ei	誰 (ㄕㄟˊ, shéi)
ㄠ	From 幺 yāo	au	ao	ao	少 (ㄕㄠˇ, shǎo)
ㄡ	From 又 yòu	ou	ou	ou	收 (ㄕㄡ, shōu)
ㄢ	From the archaic character 𢎘 hàn "to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compound 犯 fàn	an	an	an	山 (ㄕㄢ, shān)
ㄣ	From 𠃉, archaic variant of 鳦 yǐ or 乚 yà[9] (乚 is yǐn according to other sources[10])	ən	en	ên	申 (ㄕㄣ, shēn)
ㄤ	From 尢 wāng	aŋ	ang	ang	上 (ㄕㄤˋ, shàng)
ㄥ	From 𠃋, archaic form of 肱 gōng[11]	əŋ	eng	êng	生 (ㄕㄥ, shēng)
ㄦ	From 儿, the bottom portion of 兒 ér used as a cursive and simplified form	aɚ	er	êrh	而 (ㄦˊ, ér)
ㄧ	From 一 yī	i	yi, -i	i	以 (ㄧˇ, yǐ), 逆 (ㄋㄧˋ, nì)
ㄨ	From 㐅, ancient form of 五 wǔ. Compare the transitory form 𠄡.	u	wu, -u	u/w	努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ), 吳 (ㄨˊ, wú)
ㄩ	From the ancient character 凵 qū, which remains as a radical	y	yu, -ü	ü/yü	雨 (ㄩˇ, yǔ), 女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
ㄭ	From the character 帀. It represents the minimal vowel of ㄓ, ㄔ, ㄕ, ㄖ, ㄗ, ㄘ, ㄙ, though it is not used after them in transcription.[12]	ɻ̩~ʐ̩, ɹ̩~z̩	-i	ih/ŭ	資 (ㄗ, zī); 知 (ㄓ, zhī); 死 (ㄙˇ, sǐ)

Writing[edit]

Stroke order[edit]

Zhuyin is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters. Note that ㄖ is written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (日, Hanyu Pinyin: rì), which has four strokes.

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Tonal marks[edit]

As shown in the following table, tone marks for the second, third, and fourth tones are shared between bopomofo and pinyin. In bopomofo, the lack of a marker is used to indicate the first tone while a dot above indicates the fifth tone (also known as the neutral tone). In pinyin, a macron indicates the first tone and the lack of a marker indicates the fifth tone.

Tone	Bopomofo		Pinyin
	Tone Marker	Unicode Name	Tone Marker	Unicode Name
1	(None)	(Not Applicable)	◌̄	Combining Macron
2	ˊ	Modifier Letter Acute Accent	◌́	Combining Acute Accent
3	ˇ	Caron	◌̌	Combining Caron
4	ˋ	Modifier Letter Grave Accent	◌̀	Combining Grave Accent
5	˙	Dot Above	(None)	(Not Applicable)

Unlike Hanyu Pinyin, Zhuyin aligns well with the hanzi characters in books whose texts are printed vertically, making Zhuyin better suited for annotating the pronunciation of vertically oriented Chinese text.

Zhuyin, when used in conjunction with Chinese characters, are typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically or to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print (see Ruby character).

Below is an example for the word "bottle" (pinyin: píngzi):

瓶 ㄆ ㄧ ㄥˊ 子 ˙ ㄗ

or

ㄆㄧㄥˊ ˙ㄗ 瓶 子

Érhuà transcription[edit]

Érhuà-ed words merge as a single syllable, which means ㄦ is attached to the precedent syllable (like 歌兒(ㄍㄜㄦ) gēr). In case the syllable uses other tones than 1st tone, the tone is attached to the penultimate syllable, but not to ㄦ (e.g. 哪兒(ㄋㄚˇㄦ) nǎr; 一(ㄧ)點兒(ㄉㄧㄢˇㄦ) yīdiǎnr; 好(ㄏㄠˇ)玩兒(ㄨㄢˊㄦ) hǎowánr). ^[13]

Comparison[edit]

Pinyin[edit]

Zhuyin and pinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations, hence there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two systems:

IPA and pinyin counterparts of Zhuyin finals

		Rhyme
			ㄚ	ㄛ	ㄜ	ㄝ	ㄞ	ㄟ	ㄠ	ㄡ	ㄢ	ㄣ	ㄤ	ㄥ	ㄦ
Medial		[ɨ] (ㄭ) 1 -i	[a] ㄚ a -a	[u̯o] ㄛ o -o	[ɤ] ㄜ e -e		[ai̯] ㄞ ai -ai	[ei̯] ㄟ ei -ei	[au̯] ㄠ ao -ao	[ou̯] ㄡ ou -ou	[an] ㄢ an -an	[ən] ㄣ en -en	[aŋ] ㄤ ang -ang	[əŋ] ㄥ eng -eng	[aɚ] ㄦ er
	ㄧ	[i] ㄧ yi -i	[i̯a] ㄧㄚ ya -ia			[i̯e] ㄧㄝ ye -ie			[i̯au̯] ㄧㄠ yao -iao	[i̯ou̯] ㄧㄡ you -iu	[i̯ɛn] ㄧㄢ yan -ian	[in] ㄧㄣ yin -in	[i̯aŋ] ㄧㄤ yang -iang	[iŋ] ㄧㄥ ying -ing
	ㄨ	[u] ㄨ wu -u	[u̯a] ㄨㄚ wa -ua	[u̯o] ㄨㄛ wo -uo			[u̯ai̯] ㄨㄞ wai -uai	[u̯ei̯] ㄨㄟ wei -ui			[u̯an] ㄨㄢ wan -uan	[u̯ən] ㄨㄣ wen -un	[u̯aŋ] ㄨㄤ wang -uang	[u̯əŋ], [ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ weng -ong 4
	ㄩ	[y] ㄩ yu -ü 2				[y̯e] ㄩㄝ yue -üe 2					[y̯ɛn] ㄩㄢ yuan -üan 2	[yn] ㄩㄣ yun -ün 2		[i̯ʊŋ] ㄩㄥ yong -iong

¹ Not written. ² ü is written as u after j, q, x, or y. ⁴ weng is pronounced [oŋ] (written as ong) when it follows an initial.

Chart[edit]

Vowels a, e, o

IPA	a	ɔ	ɛ	ɤ	ai	ei	au	ou	an	ən	aŋ	əŋ	ʊŋ	aɚ
Pinyin	a	o	ê	e	ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	er
Tongyong Pinyin			e	e
Wade–Giles			eh	ê/o						ên		êng	ung	êrh
Bopomofo	ㄚ	ㄛ	ㄝ	ㄜ	ㄞ	ㄟ	ㄠ	ㄡ	ㄢ	ㄣ	ㄤ	ㄥ	ㄨㄥ	ㄦ
example	阿	哦	唄	俄	艾	黑	凹	偶	安	恩	昂	冷	中	二

Vowels i, u, y

IPA	i	je	jou	jɛn	in	iŋ	jʊŋ	u	wo	wei	wən	wəŋ	y	ɥe	ɥɛn	yn
Pinyin	yi	ye	you	yan	yin	ying	yong	wu	wo/o	wei	wen	weng	yu	yue	yuan	yun
Tongyong Pinyin											wun	wong
Wade–Giles	i/yi	yeh	yu	yen			yung				wên	wêng	yü	yüeh	yüan	yün
Bopomofo	ㄧ	ㄧㄝ	ㄧㄡ	ㄧㄢ	ㄧㄣ	ㄧㄥ	ㄩㄥ	ㄨ	ㄨㄛ/ㄛ	ㄨㄟ	ㄨㄣ	ㄨㄥ	ㄩ	ㄩㄝ	ㄩㄢ	ㄩㄣ
example	一	也	又	言	音	英	用	五	我	位	文	翁	玉	月	元	云

Non-sibilant consonants

IPA	p	pʰ	m	fəŋ	tjou	twei	twən	tʰɤ	ny	ly	kɤɚ	kʰɤ	xɤ
Pinyin	b	p	m	feng	diu	dui	dun	te	nü	lü	ger	ke	he
Tongyong Pinyin				fong	diou	duei			nyu	lyu
Wade–Giles	p	pʻ		fêng	tiu	tui	tun	tʻê	nü	lü	kor	kʻo	ho
Bopomofo	ㄅ	ㄆ	ㄇ	ㄈㄥ	ㄉㄧㄡ	ㄉㄨㄟ	ㄉㄨㄣ	ㄊㄜ	ㄋㄩ	ㄌㄩ	ㄍㄜㄦ	ㄎㄜ	ㄏㄜ
example	玻	婆	末	封	丟	兌	頓	特	女	旅	歌兒	可	何

Sibilant consonants

IPA	tɕjɛn	tɕjʊŋ	tɕʰin	ɕɥɛn	ʈʂɤ	ʈʂɨ	ʈʂʰɤ	ʈʂʰɨ	ʂɤ	ʂɨ	ɻɤ	ɻɨ	tsɤ	tswo	tsɨ	tsʰɤ	tsʰɨ	sɤ	sɨ
Pinyin	jian	jiong	qin	xuan	zhe	zhi	che	chi	she	shi	re	ri	ze	zuo	zi	ce	ci	se	si
Tongyong Pinyin		jyong	cin	syuan	jhe	jhih		chih		shih		rih			zih		cih		sih
Wade–Giles	chien	chiung	chʻin	hsüan	chê	chih	chʻê	chʻih	shê	shih	jê	jih	tsê	tso	tzŭ	tsʻê	tzʻŭ	sê	ssŭ
Bopomofo	ㄐㄧㄢ	ㄐㄩㄥ	ㄑㄧㄣ	ㄒㄩㄢ	ㄓㄜ	ㄓ	ㄔㄜ	ㄔ	ㄕㄜ	ㄕ	ㄖㄜ	ㄖ	ㄗㄜ	ㄗㄨㄛ	ㄗ	ㄘㄜ	ㄘ	ㄙㄜ	ㄙ
example	件	窘	秦	宣	哲	之	扯	赤	社	是	惹	日	仄	左	字	策	次	色	斯

Tones

IPA	ma˥˥	ma˧˥	ma˨˩˦	ma˥˩	ma
Pinyin	mā	má	mǎ	mà	ma
Tongyong Pinyin	ma				må
Wade–Giles	ma1	ma2	ma3	ma4	ma
Bopomofo	ㄇㄚ	ㄇㄚˊ	ㄇㄚˇ	ㄇㄚˋ	˙ㄇㄚ
example (Chinese characters)	媽	麻	馬	罵	嗎

Non-Standard Mandarin dialects[edit]

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Three letters formerly used in non-standard dialects of Mandarin are now also used to write other Chinese varieties. Some Zhuyin fonts do not contain these letters; see External links for PDF pictures.

In Taiwan, Bopomofo is used to teach Taiwanese Hokkien, and is also used to transcribe it phonetically in contexts such as on storefront signs, karaoke lyrics, and film subtitles.

Zhuyin	IPA	GR	Pinyin
ㄪ	v	v	v
ㄫ	ŋ	ng	ng
ㄬ	ɲ	gn	ny

Computer uses[edit]

Input method[edit]

Zhuyin can be used as an input method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without the user having to download or install any additional software. It is also one of the few input methods that can be used for inputting Chinese characters on certain cell phones.^{[citation needed]}

Unicode[edit]

Zhuyin was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for Zhuyin, called Bopomofo, is U+3100–U+312F:

Bopomofo[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

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4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+310x

ㄅ

ㄆ

ㄇ

ㄈ

ㄉ

ㄊ

ㄋ

ㄌ

ㄍ

ㄎ

ㄏ

U+311x

ㄐ

ㄑ

ㄒ

ㄓ

ㄔ

ㄕ

ㄖ

ㄗ

ㄘ

ㄙ

ㄚ

ㄛ

ㄜ

ㄝ

ㄞ

ㄟ

U+312x

ㄠ

ㄡ

ㄢ

ㄣ

ㄤ

ㄥ

ㄦ

ㄧ

ㄨ

ㄩ

ㄪ

ㄫ

ㄬ

ㄭ

ㄮ

ㄯ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 11.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Additional characters were added in September 1999 with the release of version 3.0.

The Unicode block for these additional characters, called Bopomofo Extended, is U+31A0–U+31BF:

Bopomofo Extended[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+31Ax

ㆠ

ㆡ

ㆢ

ㆣ

ㆤ

ㆥ

ㆦ

ㆧ

ㆨ

ㆩ

ㆪ

ㆫ

ㆬ

ㆭ

ㆮ

ㆯ

U+31Bx

ㆰ

ㆱ

ㆲ

ㆳ

ㆴ

ㆵ

ㆶ

ㆷ

ㆸ

ㆹ

ㆺ

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 11.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Unicode 3.0 also added the characters U+02EA and U+02EB, in the Spacing Modifier Letters block. These two characters are now (since Unicode 6.0) classified as Bopomofo characters.^[14]

See also[edit]

• Chinese input methods for computers
• Fanqie
• Furigana
• Ruby character
• Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols
• Zhuyin table

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Look up bopomofo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Manual of The Phonetic Symbols of Mandarin Chinese
• Unicode reference glyphs for "bopomofo" (PDF). (69.6 KB) and "extended bopomofo" (PDF). (61.6 KB)
• Bopomofo annotations – adds inline and pop-up annotations with bopomofo pronunciation and English definitions to Chinese text or web pages.
• Mandarin Dictionary – needs Chinese font for Big5 encoding
• Chinese Phonetic Conversion Tool – converts between Pinyin, Zhuyin and other phonetic systems
• Chinese Romanization Converter – converts between Hanyu Pinyin, Wade–Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh and other known or (un-)common Romanization systems
• Bopomofo -> Wade-Giles -> Pinyin -> Word List
• NPA->IPA National Phonetic Alphabet (bopomofo) spellings of words transliterated into the International Phonetic Alphabet. The vowel values have been verified against the official IPA site. See IPA help preview, SIL International website. See IPA help preview, SIL International website. (Accessed 23-12-2010).
• Bopomofo to Pinyin converter and reverse^{[permanent dead link]}
• bopomofo syllable chart, with Hanyu Pinyin equivalents
• Pinyin Annotator – adds bopomofo (bopomofo) or pinyin on top of any Chinese text, prompts alternative pronunciations to homonyms, has the option of exporting into OpenOffice Writer for further editing
• 《請利用螢幕上的小鍵盤輸入注音符號》 – online keyboard for bopomofo which can turn it into Chinese characters
• Online Zhuyin-Bopomofo Input Method Editor 免费在线中文输入法，使用注音