How to use the chart
- Type any spelling in the box: one syllable (hsiao), a word (Pei-ching), a name or a book title. It works out which system you most likely used and gives the pinyin; when a spelling fits more than one system, the other readings are listed too. If you know the system, choose it under From. Common older spellings, such as Peking, Kweilin and kung fu, are recognized as well.
- Add tone numbers for tone marks: ni3 hao3 becomes nǐ hǎo. Zhuyin tone marks and Gwoyeu Romatzyh spellings carry their tones already.
- Read the chart. Each row is one Mandarin syllable, from a to zuo in pinyin order. Your search narrows the chart to the rows it used; Show all brings the full chart back.
- Hide the columns you don’t need, or jump to an initial with the letters above the chart.
The seven systems
Chinese characters don’t spell out how a word sounds, so for about 400 years people have built ways to write Mandarin in the Latin alphabet or in phonetic symbols. Six of the systems in this chart do that with letters. Zhuyin uses its own symbols.
| System | Since | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Hanyu Pinyin 汉语拼音 | 1958 | The standard in mainland China and Singapore, and in almost every Chinese textbook. An international standard (ISO 7098) since 1982, and Taiwan’s official romanization since 2009. |
| Zhuyin 注音符号 | 1918 | Taiwan, where children learn to read with it and many people type Chinese with it. Also called bopomofo. |
| Wade-Giles 威妥玛拼音 | 1867, 1892 | English-language books from before the 1980s, and names that kept it: Taipei, Kaohsiung, tai chi, I Ching. |
| Yale 耶鲁拼音 | 1940s | Older American textbooks and dictionaries. |
| MPS II 注音二式 | 1986 | Taiwan, for a time; rarely seen today. |
| Tongyong Pinyin 通用拼音 | 2002 | Taiwan’s official romanization from 2002 to 2008; still on some street signs there. |
| Gwoyeu Romatzyh 国语罗马字 | 1928 | Older dictionaries and linguistics books. It spells the tone in the letters of each syllable. |
If you are learning Mandarin, learn pinyin. You need the others only to read older books, maps and names.
One word, seven spellings
The same five words in every system. Pinyin and Zhuyin show their tone marks; Gwoyeu Romatzyh spells the tones in its letters; the other systems are shown without tones.
| Word | Hanyu Pinyin | Zhuyin | Wade-Giles | Yale | MPS II | Tongyong | Gwoyeu Romatzyh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 北京 | Běijīng | ㄅㄟˇ ㄐㄧㄥ | Pei-ching | Beijing | Beijing | Beijing | Beeijing |
| 台北 | Táiběi | ㄊㄞˊ ㄅㄟˇ | T’ai-pei | Taibei | Taibei | Taibei | Tairbeei |
| 中国 | Zhōngguó | ㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ | Chung-kuo | Junggwo | Jungguo | Jhongguo | Jonggwo |
| 太极拳 | tàijíquán | ㄊㄞˋ ㄐㄧˊ ㄑㄩㄢˊ | t’ai-chi ch’üan | taijichywan | taijichiuan | taijicyuan | tayjyichyuan |
| 道德经 | Dàodéjīng | ㄉㄠˋ ㄉㄜˊ ㄐㄧㄥ | Tao-te-ching | Daudejing | Daudejing | Daodejing | Dawderjing |
Reading Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles is the system you meet most often in older English books, and it is the one that trips up pinyin readers most. The main thing to know is the apostrophe: it marks a sound said with a puff of air. Wade-Giles p is pinyin b, and p’ is pinyin p.
| Wade-Giles | Pinyin | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| p | b | pai → bai |
| p’ | p | p’ai → pai |
| t | d | tao → dao |
| t’ | t | t’ao → tao |
| k | g | kuo → guo |
| k’ | k | k’ai → kai |
| ch | zh, or j before i and ü | chung → zhong, chin → jin |
| ch’ | ch, or q before i and ü | ch’ang → chang, ch’ing → qing |
| hs | x | hsiao → xiao |
| j | r | jen → ren |
| ts, tz | z | tsai → zai, tzu → zi |
| ts’, tz’ | c | ts’ai → cai, tz’u → ci |
| -ih | -i | shih → shi, chih → zhi |
| -u after ss, tz, tz’ | -i | ssu → si |
| -ien, -ieh | -ian, -ie | tien → dian, hsieh → xie |
| -ung | -ong | tung → dong |
| -o after k, k’, h | -e | ko → ge, ho → he |
| i, yu, yü | yi, you, yu | i → yi, yu → you, yü → yu |
| erh | er | erh → er |
Many printed names leave the apostrophes out, so tai in a Wade-Giles name can be either dai or tai. When it reads a Wade-Giles spelling, the lookup box shows both.
Zhuyin (bopomofo)
Zhuyin writes Mandarin with 37 symbols drawn from parts of Chinese characters. Its everyday name, bopomofo, comes from its first four symbols: ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ (b, p, m, f). A syllable takes one to three symbols: ㄓㄨㄥ is zhong.
Tones are marks after the syllable: ˊ for the second tone, ˇ for the third and ˋ for the fourth. The first tone has no mark, and the neutral tone is a dot written before the syllable (˙ㄇㄚ, ma). So 中文 is ㄓㄨㄥ ㄨㄣˊ, zhōngwén. In Taiwan, children’s books print Zhuyin beside each character, and many phones and computers there use a Zhuyin keyboard.
Tones in Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Gwoyeu Romatzyh writes each tone with different letters instead of marks, so a syllable has four spellings. For ba they are ba, bar, baa and bah.
- Second tone adds r (bar), or turns i and u into y and w (byan, gwo).
- Third tone doubles the vowel (baa), or turns i and u into e and o (bean, goan).
- Fourth tone adds h (bah), or changes the ending: i to y, u to w, n to nn, ng to nq (bay, baw, bann, banq).
- After l, m, n and r the plain spelling is the second tone, and the first tone adds h: mha, ma, maa, mah.
The full rules have more cases; the chart spells every syllable out.
About this chart
- Syllables
- 412 syllables of standard Mandarin, including rare and dialect-tinged ones such as diang, kei and lün. Left out: ê, eng, fiao and lüan, each used for only one or two rare characters or interjections, and shong, which is not a standard syllable.
- Checked
- Every cell was checked against published comparison tables and against each system’s own spelling rules.
- Wade-Giles
- Written as it is usually printed today: apostrophes kept, the ê and ŭ accents left off (pen for pên, ssu for ssŭ). The lookup box reads both.
- Updated
- October 30, 2026
Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll check it and fix it.
Questions
Which romanization should I learn?
Hanyu Pinyin. It is the international standard, it is used in mainland China and Singapore and in nearly every textbook, and Taiwan made it its official romanization in 2009. The other systems are worth knowing only to read older books, maps and names.
What is the difference between pinyin and Wade-Giles?
They spell the same sounds differently. Wade-Giles marks breathy sounds with an apostrophe where pinyin uses another letter: Wade-Giles t’ao and tao are pinyin tao and dao. It also writes hs for x, j for r, ch for zh or j, and ch’ for ch or q.
Why is it Taipei and not Taibei?
Taipei is the Wade-Giles spelling T’ai-pei with the apostrophe and hyphen dropped. In pinyin the name is Táiběi. Many place names in Taiwan, such as Kaohsiung, kept their older spellings.
Why was Beijing called Peking?
Peking is the spelling used by the old postal romanization, the place-name spellings China’s post office used on maps and mail before pinyin. The spelling itself is older, from European maps of the 1600s. It follows neither Wade-Giles (Pei-ching) nor pinyin (Běijīng). Canton (Guangzhou) and Tsingtao (Qingdao) are postal spellings too. The lookup box knows these and other common older spellings.
Is Zhuyin the same as bopomofo?
Yes. Zhuyin, or Zhuyin Fuhao, is the official name, and bopomofo is the everyday name taken from its first four symbols, ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ.
Can this tool turn Chinese characters into pinyin?
No. It converts between spelling systems. For characters, use the Chinese to pinyin converter, which puts pinyin above every character.
How do I get tone marks?
Type tone numbers after each syllable: zhong1guo2 becomes zhōngguó. Zhuyin tone marks and Gwoyeu Romatzyh spellings already carry the tone, so the pinyin comes out with tone marks.
Why does the box give two readings for a Wade-Giles name?
Because Wade-Giles names are often printed without their apostrophes, and the apostrophe changes the sound. Kuo could be guo (written kuo) or kuo (written k’uo). The first reading assumes the spelling is exact; the second assumes an apostrophe was dropped.
