Bopomofo

"Zhuyin" redirects here. For the mythological creature, seeZhulong (mythology).

Bopomofo,also calledZhuyin Fuhao(/dʒuːˌjɪnfuːˈhaʊ/joo-YIN foo-HOW;Chú âm ký hiệu;Zhùyīn fúhào;'phonetic symbols'), or simplyZhuyin,is atransliteration systemforStandard Chineseand otherSinitic languages.It is the principal method of teaching Chinese Mandarin pronunciation inTaiwan.It consists of 37 characters and fivetonemarks, which together can transcribe all possible sounds inMandarin Chinese.

Bopomofo
"Encyclopedia" written in bopomofo
Script type	Semisyllabary with diacritics for tones
Creator	Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation Introduced by theBeiyang governmentof the Republic of China
Time period	Mainland China(1918–1958) Xiandai Hanyu Cidian(1960–2016;as a supplement toHanyu Pinyin) Taiwan(1945–present)
Direction	Left-to-right,right-to-left script
Related scripts
Parent systems	Oracle bone script Seal script Clerical script Bopomofo
Child systems	Cantonese bopomofo,Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols,Suzhou Phonetic Symbols,Hmu Phonetic Symbols,Matsu Fuchounese bopomofo
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Bopo(285),​Bopomofo
Unicode
Unicode alias	Bopomofo
Unicode range	U+3100–U+312F(Bopomofo) U+31A0–U+31BF(Bopomofo Extended)

Mandarin Phonetic Symbols
Traditional Chinese	Chú âm ký hiệu
Simplified Chinese	Chú âm ký hiệu
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhùyīn fúhào Bopomofo ㄓㄨˋㄧㄣㄈㄨˊㄏㄠˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Juh'in fwuhaw Wade–Giles Chu4-yin1fu2-hao4 Tongyong Pinyin Jhù-yin fú-hào MPS2 Jùyīn fúhàu IPA [ʈʂû.ín fǔ.xâʊ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jyuyām Fùhhóu Jyutping Zyu3 jam1 fu4 hou2 IPA [tsy˧ jɐm˥ fu˩ hɔw˧˥] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Chù-im hû-hō Tâi-lô Tsù-im hû-hō

Bopomofo was first introduced in China during the 1910s by theBeiyang government,where it was used alongsideWade–Giles,a romanization system which used a modifiedLatin Alpha bet.Today, Bopomofo is more common in Taiwan than on the mainland, and is used as the primaryelectronic input methodforTaiwanese Mandarin,as well as in dictionaries and other non-official documents.

Terminology

Bopomofois the name used for the system by theInternational Organization for Standardization(ISO) andUnicode.Analogous to how the wordAlpha betis derived from the names of the first two lettersAlphaandbeta,the namebopomofoderives from the first four syllabographs in the system's conventionallexicographic order:ㄅ,ㄆ,ㄇ,andㄈ.

InTaiwanthe system is commonly known by its official nameZhuyin fuhao(Chú âm ký hiệu;'phonetic symbols'), or simply aszhuyin(Chú âm;'phonetic notation'). In official documents, it is occasionally calledMandarin Phonetic Symbols I(Quốc ngữ chú âm ký hiệu thức thứ nhất), abbreviated as "MPS I" (Chú âm nhất thức),to distinguish it from theMandarin Phonetic Symbols II(MPS II) system published in 1984. Formerly, the system was namedGuoyin zimu(Quốc âm chữ cái;'national language Alpha bet') andZhuyin zimu(Chú âm phù hiệu;'phonetic Alpha bet').

History

Origins

Main article:Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation § Phonetic symbols

TheCommission on the Unification of Pronunciation,led byWu Zhihuifrom 1912 to 1913, created a system calledZhuyin Zimu,which was based onZhang Binglin's shorthand. It was used as the official phonetic script to annotate the sounds of the characters in accordance with theOld National Pronunciation.A draft was released on 11 July 1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until 23 November 1928.It was first namedGuóyīn Zìmǔ'national pronunciation Alpha bet', but in April 1930 was renamedZhùyīn Fúhào'phonetic symbols' to address fears that the Alpha betic system might independently replaceChinese characters.

Modern use

A guide on how to typeset Bopomofo alongside characters. (1936,Li Jinxi)

Bopomofo is the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing inelementary schoolin Taiwan. In elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Bopomofo asruby charactersas an aid to learning. Additionally, one children's newspaper in Taiwan, theMandarin Daily News,annotates all articles with Bopomofo ruby characters.

It is also the most popular way for Taiwanese to enter Chinese characters into computers andsmartphonesand to look up characters in a dictionary.

In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some overseas communities such as Filipino Chinese use Bopomofo.

Bopomofo is shown in a secondary position toHanyu Pinyinin all editions ofXiandai Hanyu Cidianfrom the 1960 edition to the current 2016 edition (7th edition).

Bopomofo is also used to transcribe other Chinese dialects, most commonlyTaiwanese HokkienandCantonese,however its use can be applied to practically any dialect in handwriting (because not all letters are encoded). Outside of Chinese, Bopomofo letters are also used inHmuandGelanguages by a small number of Hmu Christians.

Symbols

Table of Bopomofo, with romanization given inGwoyeu Romatzyh

Bopomofo in Regular, Handwritten Regular & Cursive formats

The Bopomofo characters were created byZhang Binglin,taken mainly from "regularized"forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. The consonants are listed in order ofplace of articulation,from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, /l/ etc.

Origin of bopomofo symbols

Consonants

Bopomofo	Origin	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄅ	FromBao,the ancient form and current top portion ofBaobāo,"to wrap up; package"	p	b	p	Baobāo ㄅㄠ
ㄆ	FromPhác,a variant form ofPhộcpū,"to knock lightly".	pʰ	p	pʻ	Phácpū ㄆㄨ
ㄇ	FromQuynh,the archaic character and current "cover"radicalMịchmì.	m	m	m	冞mí ㄇㄧˊ
ㄈ	From the "right open box"radicalPhươngfāng.	f	f	f	Phỉfěi ㄈㄟˇ
ㄉ	From𠚣,archaic form ofĐaodāo,"blade". Compare theShuowenseal.	t	d	t	Màdì ㄉㄧˋ
ㄊ	From𠫓tū,an upside-down form ofTửzǐand an ancient form ofĐộttū(andinseal script)	tʰ	t	tʻ	Đềtí ㄊㄧˊ
ㄋ	From/𠄎,ancient form ofNãinǎi,"to be" (a copula in Classical Chinese).	n	n	n	Ngươinǐ ㄋㄧˇ
ㄌ	From𠠲,archaic form ofLựclì,"power".	l	l	l	Lợilì ㄌㄧˋ
ㄍ	From the obsolete character巜guì/kuài,"ditch".	k	g	k	Cáogào ㄍㄠˋ
ㄎ	From the archaic character, now "breath" or "sigh" component丂kǎo.	kʰ	k	kʻ	Khảokǎo ㄎㄠˇ
ㄏ	From the archaic character and current radicalXưởnghǎn.	x	h	h	Hảohǎo ㄏㄠˇ
ㄐ	From the archaic character丩jiū.	tɕ	j	ch	Kêujiào ㄐㄧㄠˋ
ㄑ	From the archaic character𡿨quǎn,graphic root of the characterXuyênchuān,"river" (modernXuyên).	tɕʰ	q	chʻ	Xảoqiǎo ㄑㄧㄠˇ
ㄒ	FromHạ,an ancient form ofHạxià,"under".	ɕ	x	hs	Tiểuxiǎo ㄒㄧㄠˇ
ㄓ	From/𡳿,archaic form ofChizhī,a genitive marker in Classical Chinese.	ʈʂ	zhi, zh-	ch	Biếtzhī ㄓ; Chủzhǔ ㄓㄨˇ
ㄔ	From the character and radicalXíchchì	ʈʂʰ	chi, ch-	chʻ	Ănchī ㄔ; Rachū ㄔㄨ
ㄕ	From𡰣,an ancient form ofThishī	ʂ	shi, sh-	sh	Làshì ㄕˋ; Thúcshù ㄕㄨˋ
ㄖ	Modified from the seal scriptform ofNgàyrì,"day" or "sun".	ɻ~ʐ	ri, r-	j	Ngàyrì ㄖˋ; Nhậprù ㄖㄨˋ
ㄗ	From the archaic character and current radicalTiếtjié,dialecticallyzié([tsjě];tsieh²in Wade–Giles)	ts	zi, z-	ts	Tựzì ㄗˋ; Ởzài ㄗㄞˋ
ㄘ	From𠀁,archaic form ofBảyqī,dialecticallyciī([tsʰí];tsʻi¹in Wade–Giles). Compare semi-cursive formand seal-script.	tsʰ	ci, c-	tsʻ	Từcí ㄘˊ; Mớicái ㄘㄞˊ
ㄙ	From the archaic characterKhưsī,which was later replaced by its compoundTưsī.	s	si, s-	s	Bốnsì ㄙˋ; Tắcsāi ㄙㄞ

Rhymes and medials

Bopomofo	Origin	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄚ	FromNhayā	a	a	a	Đạidà ㄉㄚˋ
ㄛ	From the obsolete character𠀀hē,inhalation, the reverse of丂kǎo,which is preserved as a phonetic in the compoundNhưngkě.	o	o	o	Nhiềuduō ㄉㄨㄛ
ㄜ	Derived from itsallophonein Standard Chinese,ㄛo	ɤ	e	o/ê	Đếndé ㄉㄜˊ
ㄝ	FromCũngyě,"also". Compare the Warring States bamboo form	e	-ie/ê	eh	Chadiē ㄉㄧㄝ
ㄞ	From𠀅hài,archaic form ofHợi.	ai	ai	ai	Phơishài ㄕㄞˋ
ㄟ	FromDiyí,an obsolete character meaningDiyí,"to move".	ei	ei	ei	Aishéi ㄕㄟˊ
ㄠ	FromYêuyāo	au	ao	ao	Thiếushǎo ㄕㄠˇ
ㄡ	FromLạiyòu	ou	ou	ou	Thushōu ㄕㄡ
ㄢ	From the archaic character𢎘hàn"to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compoundPhạmfàn	an	an	an	Sơnshān ㄕㄢ
ㄣ	From𠃉,archaic variant ofYếnyǐor乚yà(乚isyǐnaccording to other sources)	ən	en	ên	Thânshēn ㄕㄣ
ㄤ	FromUôngwāng	aŋ	ang	ang	Thượngshàng ㄕㄤˋ
ㄥ	From𠃋,archaic form ofQuănggōng	əŋ	eng	êng	Sinhshēng ㄕㄥ
ㄦ	FromNhi,the bottom portion ofNhiérused as a cursive andsimplifiedform	aɚ	er	êrh	Màér ㄦˊ
ㄧ	FromMộtyī,"one"	i	y, yi, -i	i	Lấyyǐ ㄧˇ; Nghịchnì ㄋㄧˋ
ㄨ	From㐅,ancient form ofNămwǔ,"five". Compare the transitory form𠄡.	u	w, wu, -u	u/w	Nỗnǔ ㄋㄨˇ; Tawǒ ㄨㄛˇ
ㄩ	From the ancient characterKhảmqū,which remains as a radical	y	yu, -ü	ü/yü	Vũyǔ ㄩˇ; Nữnǚ ㄋㄩˇ
ㄭ	From the characterTáp.It represents thefricative vowelofㄓ,ㄔ,ㄕ,ㄖ,ㄗ,ㄘ,ㄙ,though it is not used after them in transcription.	ɻ̩~ʐ̩,ɹ̩~z̩	-i	ih/ŭ	Tưzī ㄗ; Biếtzhī ㄓ; Chếtsǐ ㄙˇ

Writing

Stroke order

Bopomofo is written in the samestroke orderrule as Chinese characters.ㄖis written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (Chinese:Ngày;pinyin:rì), which has four strokes.

ㄧcan be written as a vertical line () or a horizontal line (); both are accepted forms. Traditionally, it should be written as a horizontal line in vertical writing, and a vertical line in horizontal writing. The People's Republic of China almost exclusively uses horizontal writing, so the vertical form (in the rare occasion that Bopomofo is used) has become the standard form there. Language education in the Republic of China generally uses vertical writing, so most people learn it as a horizontal line, and use a horizontal form even in horizontal writing. In 2008, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education decided that the primary form should always be the horizontal form, but that the vertical form is accepted alternative.Unicode 8.0.0 published an errata in 2014 that updates the representative glyph to be the horizontal form.Computer fonts may only display one form or the other, or may be able to display both if the font is aware of changes needed for vertical writing.

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Bopomofo is occasionally unofficially handwritten as syllable blocks, similar toHangul,however this is not considered an accepted form by the People's Republic of China nor the Republic of China, and is unsupported by Unicode.

Tonal marks

As shown in the following table,tonemarks for the second, third, and fourth tones are shared between bopomofo andpinyin.In bopomofo, the mark for first tone is usually omitted but can be included,while a dot above indicates the fifth tone (also known as theneutral tone). In pinyin, amacron(overbar) indicates the first tone, and the lack of a marker usually indicates the fifth (light) tone.

Tone	Bopomofo		Pinyin
	Tone Marker	UnicodeName	Tone Marker	Unicode Name
1	ˉ	Modifier Letter Macron (usually omitted)	◌̄	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	·	Middle Dot (usually omitted)

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

When used in conjunction with Chinese characters, Bopomofo is typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically in bothvertical printandhorizontal printor to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print (seeRuby characters).

Example

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

Bình ㄆ ㄧ ㄥˊ Tử ˙ ㄗ

,

Bình ㄆ ㄧ ㄥˊ Tử ˙ ㄗ

or

ㄆㄧㄥˊ ˙ㄗ Bình Tử

Erhua transcription

Words rhotacized as a result oferhuaare spelled withㄦattached to the syllable (likeCa nhi(ㄍㄜㄦ)gēr). In case the syllable uses other tones than the 1st tone, the tone mark is attached to the penultimate letter standing for syllable nucleus, but not toㄦ(e.g.Chỗ nào(ㄋㄚˇㄦ)nǎr;Một(ㄧ)Điểm nhi(ㄉㄧㄢˇㄦ)yīdiǎnr;Hảo(ㄏㄠˇ)Chơi(ㄨㄢˊㄦ)hǎowánr).

Comparison

Pinyin

Bopomofo andpinyinare based on the same Mandarin pronunciations; hence there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two systems:

IPA and pinyin counterparts of Bopomofo finals

		Rhyme
			ㄚ	ㄛ	ㄜ	ㄝ	ㄞ	ㄟ	ㄠ	ㄡ	ㄢ	ㄣ	ㄤ	ㄥ	ㄦ
Medial		[ɨ] (ㄭ)1 -i	[a] ㄚ a -a	[o] ㄛ3 o -o3	[ɤ] ㄜ e -e	[ɛ] ㄝ ê	[ai̯] ㄞ ai -ai	[ei̯] ㄟ ei -ei	[ɑu̯] ㄠ ao -ao	[ou̯] ㄡ ou -ou	[an] ㄢ an -an	[ən] ㄣ en -en	[ɑŋ] ㄤ ang -ang	[ɤŋ] ㄥ eng -eng	[aɚ] ㄦ er
	ㄧ	[i] ㄧ yi -i	[i̯a] ㄧㄚ ya -ia	[i̯o] ㄧㄛ yo		[i̯ɛ] ㄧㄝ ye -ie	[i̯ai̯] ㄧㄞ yai		[i̯ɑu̯] ㄧㄠ yao -iao	[i̯ou̯] ㄧㄡ you -iu	[i̯ɛn] ㄧㄢ yan -ian	[in] ㄧㄣ yin -in	[i̯ɑŋ] ㄧㄤ yang -iang	[iŋ] ㄧㄥ ying -ing
	ㄨ	[u] ㄨ wu -u	[u̯a] ㄨㄚ wa -ua	[u̯o] ㄨㄛ3 wo -uo3			[u̯ai̯] ㄨㄞ wai -uai	[u̯ei̯] ㄨㄟ wei -ui			[u̯an] ㄨㄢ wan -uan	[u̯ən] ㄨㄣ wen -un	[u̯ɑŋ] ㄨㄤ wang -uang	[u̯ɤŋ],[ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ weng -ong4
	ㄩ	[y] ㄩ yu -ü2				[y̯ɛ] ㄩㄝ yue -üe2					[y̯ɛn] ㄩㄢ yuan -üan2	[yn] ㄩㄣ yun -ün2		[i̯ʊŋ] ㄩㄥ yong -iong

¹Not written.

²⟨-ü⟩is written as⟨-u⟩after⟨j-⟩,⟨q-⟩,⟨x-⟩,or⟨y-⟩.

³⟨ㄨㄛ⟩/⟨-uo⟩is written as⟨ㄛ⟩/⟨-o⟩after⟨ㄅ⟩/⟨b-⟩,⟨ㄆ⟩/⟨p-⟩,⟨ㄇ⟩/⟨m-⟩,⟨ㄈ⟩/⟨f-⟩.

⁴⟨weng⟩is pronounced[ʊŋ](written as⟨-ong⟩) when it follows an initial.

Chart

Vowelsa,e,o

IPA	a	ɔ	ɛ	ɤ	ai	ei	au	ou	an	ən	aŋ	əŋ	ʊŋ	aɹ
Pinyin	a	o	ê	e	ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	er
Tongyong Pinyin
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	A	Ác	Ai	Nga	Ngải	Hắc	Lõm	Ngẫu nhiên	An	Ân	Ngẩng	Lãnh	Trung	Nhị

Vowelsi,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	Một	Cũng	Lại	Ngôn	Âm	Anh	Dùng	Năm	Ta	Vị	Văn	Ông	Ngọc	Nguyệt	Nguyên	Vân

Non-sibilant consonants

IPA	p	pʰ	m	fəŋ	tjou	twei	twən	tʰɤ	ny	ly	kɤ	kʰɤ	xɤ
Pinyin	b	p	m	feng	diu	dui	dun	te	nü	lü	ge	ke	he
Tongyong Pinyin				fong	diou	duei			nyu	lyu
Wade–Giles	p	pʻ		fêng	tiu	tui	tun	tʻê	nü	lü	ko	kʻo	ho
Bopomofo	ㄅ	ㄆ	ㄇ	ㄈㄥ	ㄉㄧㄡ	ㄉㄨㄟ	ㄉㄨㄣ	ㄊㄜ	ㄋㄩ	ㄌㄩ	ㄍㄜ	ㄎㄜ	ㄏㄜ
example	Pha	Bà	Mạt	Phong	Ném	Đoái	Đốn	Đặc	Nữ	Lữ	Ca	Nhưng	Gì

Sibilant consonants

IPA	tɕjɛn	tɕjʊŋ	tɕʰin	ɕɥɛn	ʈʂɤ	ʈʂɨ	ʈʂʰɤ	ʈʂʰɨ	ʂɤ	ʂɨ	ɻɤ	ɻɨ	tsɤ	tswo	tsɨ	tsʰɤ	tsʰɨ	sɤ	sɨ
Pinyin	Gian	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	Kiện	囧	Tần	Tuyên	Triết	Chi	Xả	Xích	Xã	Là	Chọc	Ngày	Trắc	Tả	Tự	Sách	Thứ	Sắc	Tư

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)	Mẹ	Ma	Mã	Mắng	Sao

Use outside Standard Mandarin

Bopomofo symbols for non-MandarinChinese varietiesare added to Unicode in theBopomofo Extendedblock.

Taiwanese Hokkien

Main article:Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols

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

Three letters no longer used for Mandarin are carried over from the 1913 standard:

Bopomofo	IPA	GR	Pinyin
ㄪ	v	v	v
ㄫ	ŋ	ng	ng
ㄬ	ɲ	gn	gn

23 more letters were added specifically for Taiwanese Hokkien:

Bopomofo	IPA	TL	Derivation
ㆠ	b	b	ㄅwith voicing circle
ㆣ	g	g	ㄍwith voicing circle
ㆢ	d͡ʑ	ji	ㄐwith voicing circle
ㆡ	d͡z	j	ㄗwith voicing circle
ㆨ	ɨ	ir	ㄨandㄧcombined (?)
ㆦ	ɔ	oo	fromㄛ
ㆤ	e	e	fromㄝ
ㆩ	ã	ann	ㄚwith nasal curl
ㆧ	ɔ̃	onn	ㆦwith nasal curl
ㆥ	ẽ	enn	ㆤwith nasal curl
ㆪ/ㆳ	ĩ	inn	ㄧwith nasal curl
ㆫ	ũ	unn	ㄨwith nasal curl
ㆮ	ãĩ	ainn	ㄞwith nasal curl
ㆯ	ãũ	aunn	ㄠwith nasal curl
ㆰ	am	am	ㄚandㄇcombined
ㆱ	ɔm	om	ㆦandㄇcombined
ㆲ	ɔŋ	ong
ㆬ	m̩	m	ㄇwith syllabic stroke
ㆭ	ŋ̍	ng	ㄫwith syllabic stroke
ㆴ	-p̚	-p	smallㄅ
ㆵ	-t̚	-t	smallㄉ
ㆻ/ㆶ	-k̚	-k	smallㄍ(and variant smallㄎ)
ㆷ	-ʔ	-h	smallㄏ

Two tone marks were added for the additional tones:˪,˫

Cantonese

Main article:Cantonese Bopomofo

The following letters are used inCantonese.

Bopomofo	IPA	Jyutping
ㆼ	kʷ	gw
ㆽ	kʷʰ	kw
ㆾ	ɵ	eo
ㆿ	ɐ	a

If a syllable ends with a consonant other than-anor-aan,the consonant's letter is added, then followed by a final middle dot.

-ㄞis used for[aːi](aai) (e.g.Bại,ㄅㄞbaai6,"to be defeated" ).

-ㄣis used for[ɐn](an) (e.g.Cùng,ㄍㄣgan1,"to follow" ), and-ㄢis used for[aːn](aan) (e.g.Gian,ㄍㄢgaan1,"within" ). Other vowels that end with-nuse-ㄋ· for the finalㄋ.(e.g.Thấy,ㄍㄧㄋ·gin3,"to see" ).

-ㄡis used for[ɐu](au). (e.g.Ngưu,ㄫㄡ,ngau4,"cow" ) To transcribe[ou](ou), it is written asㄛㄨ(e.g.Lộ,ㄌㄛㄨlou6,"path" ).

ㄫis used for both initialng-(as inNgưu,ㄫㄡ,ngau4) and final-ng(as inDùng,ㄧㄛㄫ·,jung⁶"to use" ).

ㄐis used for[t͡s](z) (e.g.Chử,ㄐㄩzyu2,"to cook" ) andㄑis used for[t͡sʰ](c) (e.g. Toàn,ㄑㄩㄋ·cyun4,"whole" ).

During the time when Bopomofo was proposed for Cantonese, tones were not marked.

Computer uses

Input method

An example of a Bopomofo keypad for Taiwan

A typicalkeyboard layoutfor Bopomofo on computers

Bopomofo can be used as aninput method for Chinese characters.It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without 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 certaincell phones..On theQWERTYkeyboard, the symbols are ordered column-wise top-down (e.g.1+Q+A+Z)

Unicode

Main articles:Bopomofo (Unicode block)andBopomofo Extended (Unicode block)

Bopomofo was added to theUnicodeStandard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

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

Bopomofo[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+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 16.0 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] 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

ㆻ

ㆼ

ㆽ

ㆾ

ㆿ

Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 16.0

Unicode 3.0 also added the charactersU+02EA˪MODIFIER LETTER YIN DEPARTING TONE MARKandU+02EB˫MODIFIER LETTER YANG DEPARTING TONE MARK,in theSpacing Modifier Lettersblock. These two characters are now (since Unicode 6.0) classified as Bopomofo characters.

Tonal marks for bopomofo Spacing Modifier Letters
Tone	Tone Marker	Unicode	Note
1 Yin Ping (Level)	[ˉ]Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch (help)	U+02C9	Usually omitted
2 Yang Ping (Level)	[ˊ]Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch (help)	U+02CA
3 Shang (Rising)	[ˇ]Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch (help)	U+02C7
4 Qu (Departing)	[ˋ]Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch (help)	U+02CB
4a Yin Qu (Departing)	˪	U+02EA	ForMinnanandHakkalanguages
4b Yang Qu (Departing)	˫	U+02EB	ForMinnanandHakkalanguages
5 Qing (Neutral)	[˙]Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch (help)	U+02D9

See also

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

External links

• The Manual of The Phonetic Symbols of Mandarin Chinese
• Unicodereference 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 forBig5encoding
• Chinese Phonetic Conversion Tool– converts between Pinyin, Bopomofo 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->IPANational 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. SeeIPA help preview, SIL International website.(Accessed 23 December 2010).
• Bopomofo to Pinyin converter and reverse
• 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 intoOpenOffice Writerfor further editing
• 《 thỉnh lợi dụng màn hình thượng tiểu bàn phím đưa vào chú âm ký hiệu 》– online keyboard for bopomofo which can turn it into Chinese characters
• Online Bopomofo Input Method EditorMiễn phí tại tuyến tiếng Trung đưa vào pháp, sử dụng chú âm