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The Zhuyin Transcription system (Bo-po-mo-fo; zhuyin fuhao 注音符號)

The Zhuyin "Commented Sounds" transcription system was developed from old simple or abbreviated characters, taking the initial sound or the final sound. It is also called Bo-Po-Mo-Fo like the first four syllables. The upper table shows the initial consonants, described with international sound script, after the [] brackets the Pinyin romanization of that sound. The second column lists the letters of the Zhuyin alphabet, the third row the character of that the letter is derived from. The lower table shows the final sounds resp. the initial vowels. For the usage of the Zhuyin letters, see the Chinese language site.

[b] b 勹(包) [g] g 《(澮) [dʒ] zh
[p] p 攴(敲) [k] k 丂(考) [tʃ] ch
[m] m [x] h [ʃ] sh
[f] f 匚(方) [ʒ] r
[d] d [dj] j 丩(叫) [dz] z 卩(節)
[t] t [tç] q 〈(畎) [ts] c
[n] n [ç] x [s] s 厶(私)
[l] l


[a] a [ai] ai [an] an [i] i
[o] o,uo [ei] ei [ən, in, un]
en, in, un
[u] u
[ə] e [aω] ao [aŋ] ang [y] ü, u
[ε] e [ou] ou [əŋ, iŋ, uŋ]
eng, ing, ong
[*ŋ] ng r] er * obsolete
  © 2000 ff · Ulrich Theobald · Mail