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Pinyin converter (Mandarin)
Convert Han text to Mandarin pinyin—plain line or ruby-style chart (pinyin above characters); tones, separators, and Traditional-aware mode supported.
Polyphones are inferred from context; output updates when you change format or options.
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Brief history of Hanyu Pinyin
- From the late Qing through the Republic, Chinese was romanized in many ways—Wade–Giles, Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ), Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and more—without one national standard.
- The Hanyu Pinyin Scheme was approved in 1958, using Latin letters for Standard Chinese; it gradually replaced older romanizations in Mainland education, dictionaries, and place names.
- Since 1982 it has been part of ISO 7098, supporting passports, software input methods, and international communication.
- Taiwan still teaches primarily with Bopomofo; Hong Kong and Macau use Traditional script with Cantonese or local romanizations, not the same system as Hanyu Pinyin.
Basics
- Mandarin has four tones plus a neutral tone; diacritics sit on the main vowel (mā má mǎ mà), or you may use numbers (ma1 ma2).
- Spelling rules: ü loses its dots after j/q/x (ju, qu, xu); y and w before iong are orthographic, not extra consonants.
- Polyphones depend on words (e.g. 银行 háng vs 行走 xíng); this tool guesses from context—verify names and classical text in authoritative dictionaries.
Other romanization systems
- Bopomofo: symbols beside characters, standard in Taiwan schools—not a letter-for-letter match to Latin pinyin.
- Jyutping, Minnan romanization, etc.: encode other Chinese languages; sounds differ from Mandarin pinyin.
- Wade–Giles, Yale, and older forms (Peking, Tientsin) appear in legacy texts; convert carefully when comparing with modern Hanyu Pinyin.