Wade–Giles table explained

This Wade–Giles table is a complete listing of all Wade–Giles syllables used in Standard Chinese.^[1] Each syllable in a cell is composed of an initial (columns) and a final (rows). An empty cell indicates that the corresponding syllable does not exist in Standard Chinese.

The below table indicates possible combinations of initials and finals in Standard Chinese, but does not indicate tones, which are equally important to the proper pronunciation of Chinese. Although some initial-final combinations occur with each of the five different tones, most do not. Some only occur with one tone.

Finals are grouped into subsets a, i, u and ü. i, u and ü groupings indicate a combination of those finals with finals from Group a. The following exceptions exist:

Group	Special combination
i	i+ê/o=ieh		i+ou=iu	i+an=ien	i+ên=in	i+êng=ing
u	u+ê/o=o/uo	u+ei=ui/uei			u+ên=un	u+êng=ung
ü	ü+ê/o=üeh				ü+ên=ün	ü+êng=iung

Most syllables are a combination of an initial and a final. However, some syllables have no initials. These are written in Wade–Giles according to the following rules:

• if the final begins with a u, replace the u with a w
• if the final begins with an ü, add y in the beginning (no exceptions)
• if the final begins with an i, replace the i with a y if there are other vowels; if there are no other vowels, add y in the beginning
• if the final begins in any other way, keep the final as is
• exceptions to the rules above are indicated by blue in the table's no initial column:

Wade–Giles table	Initials																						Wade–Giles table
∅	p	p	m	f	t	t	n	l	k	k	h	ch	ch	hs	ch	ch	sh	j	ts	ts	s
Group a Finals	ih/ŭ																chih	chih	shih	jih	tzŭ	tzŭ	ssŭ	ih/ŭ	Group a Finals
	a	a	pa	pa	ma	fa	ta	ta	na	la	ka	ka	ha				cha	cha	sha		tsa	tsa	sa	a
	ê/o	ê/o			mê		tê	tê	nê	lê	ko	ko	ho				chê	chê	shê	jê	tsê	tsê	sê	ê/o
	ai	ai	pai	pai	mai		tai	tai	nai	lai	kai	kai	hai				chai	chai	shai		tsai	tsai	sai	ai
	ei	ei	pei	pei	mei	fei	tei	tei	nei	lei	kei		hei				chei		shei		tsei			ei
	ao	ao	pao	pao	mao		tao	tao	nao	lao	kao	kao	hao				chao	chao	shao	jao	tsao	tsao	sao	ao
	ou	ou		pou	mou	fou	tou	tou	nou	lou	kou	kou	hou				chou	chou	shou	jou	tsou	tsou	sou	ou
	an	an	pan	pan	man	fan	tan	tan	nan	lan	kan	kan	han				chan	chan	shan	jan	tsan	tsan	san	an
	ên	ên	pên	pên	mên	fên	tên		nên		kên	kên	hên				chên	chên	shên	jên	tsên	tsên	sên	ên
	ang	ang	pang	pang	mang	fang	tang	tang	nang	lang	kang	kang	hang				chang	chang	shang	jang	tsang	tsang	sang	ang
	êng	êng	pêng	pêng	mêng	fêng	têng	têng	nêng	lêng	kêng	kêng	hêng				chêng	chêng	shêng	jêng	tsêng	tsêng	sêng	êng
	êrh	êrh																						êrh
Group i Finals	i	i/yi	pi	pi	mi		ti	ti	ni	li				chi	chi	hsi								i	Group i Finals
	ia	ya					tia			lia				chia	chia	hsia								ia
	ieh	yeh	pieh	pieh	mieh		tieh	tieh	nieh	lieh				chieh	chieh	hsieh								ieh
	iai	yai																						iai
	iao	yao	piao	piao	miao		tiao	tiao	niao	liao				chiao	chiao	hsiao								iao
	iu	yu			miu		tiu		niu	liu				chiu	chiu	hsiu								iu
	ien	yen	pien	pien	mien		tien	tien	nien	lien				chien	chien	hsien								ien
	in	yin	pin	pin	min				nin	lin				chin	chin	hsin								in
	iang	yang							niang	liang				chiang	chiang	hsiang								iang
	ing	ying	ping	ping	ming		ting	ting	ning	ling				ching	ching	hsing								ing
Group u Finals	u	wu	pu	pu	mu	fu	tu	tu	nu	lu	ku	ku	hu				chu	chu	shu	ju	tsu	tsu	su	u	Group u Finals
	ua	wa									kua	kua	hua				chua	chua	shua	jua				ua
	o/uo	wo	po	po	mo	fo	to	to	no	lo	kuo	kuo	huo				cho	cho/chuo	shuo	jo	tso	tso	so	o/uo
	uai	wai									kuai	kuai	huai				chuai	chuai	shuai					uai
	ui/uei	wei					tui	tui			kuei	kuei	hui				chui	chui	shui	jui	tsui	tsui	sui	ui/uei
	uan	wan					tuan	tuan	nuan	luan	kuan	kuan	huan				chuan	chuan	shuan	juan	tsuan	tsuan	suan	uan
	un	wên					tun	tun	nun	lun	kun	kun	hun				chun	chun	shun	jun	tsun	tsun	sun	un
	uang	wang									kuang	kuang	huang				chuang	chuang	shuang					uang
	ung	wêng					tung	tung	nung	lung	kung	kung	hung				chung	chung		jung	tsung	tsung	sung	ung
Group ü Finals	ü	yü							nü	lü				chü	chü	hsü								ü	Group ü Finals
	üeh	yüeh							nüeh	lüeh				chüeh	chüeh	hsüeh								üeh
	üan	yüan								lüan				chüan	chüan	hsüan								üan
	ün	yün												chün	chün	hsün								ün
	iung	yung												chiung	chiung	hsiung								iung
Wade–Giles table	∅	p	p	m	f	t	t	n	l	k	k	h	ch	ch	hs	ch	ch	sh	j	ts	ts	s	Wade–Giles table
Initials

Colour Legend:

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"regular" initial or finalFinal is in Group a or is a direct combination of: i+Group a final u+Group a final ü+Group a final

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Final of i, u, ü groups is a modified combination of: i+Group a final u+Group a final ü+Group a final

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syllable is direct combination of initial and final (or follows rules for no-initial syllables outlined at the top of the page)

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syllable is written with the less common of the two spellings of the final; note the special spelling of the initials ts, ts, s in the syllables tzŭ, tzŭ, ssŭ, and the two variants cho and chuo.

Syllables that end with o have either the o/uo final or the ê/o final:

IPA	pu̯ɔ	pʰu̯ɔ	mu̯ɔ	fu̯ɔ	tu̯ɔ	tʰu̯ɔ	nu̯ɔ	lu̯ɔ	kɤ	kʰɤ	xɤ	ku̯ɔ	kʰu̯ɔ	xu̯ɔ	ʈʂu̯ɔ	ʈʂʰu̯ɔ	ʂu̯ɔ	ʐu̯ɔ	ʦu̯ɔ	ʦʰu̯ɔ	su̯ɔ	ɤ	u̯ɔ
Wade–Giles	po	po	mo	fo	to	to	no	lo	ko	ko	ho	kuo	kuo	huo	cho	cho	shuo	jo	tso	tso	so	o/ê	wo
Bopomofo	ㄅㄛ	ㄆㄛ	ㄇㄛ	ㄈㄛ	ㄉㄨㄛ	ㄊㄨㄛ	ㄋㄨㄛ	ㄌㄨㄛ	ㄍㄜ	ㄎㄜ	ㄏㄜ	ㄍㄨㄛ	ㄎㄨㄛ	ㄏㄨㄛ	ㄓㄨㄛ	ㄔㄨㄛ	ㄕㄨㄛ	ㄖㄨㄛ	ㄗㄨㄛ	ㄘㄨㄛ	ㄙㄨㄛ	ㄜ	ㄨㄛ
Pinyin	bo	po	mo	fo	duo	tuo	nuo	luo	ge	ke	he	guo	kuo	huo	zhuo	chuo	shuo	ruo	zuo	cuo	suo	e	wo

See also

• Wade–Giles
• Pinyin table
• Palladius table
• Zhuyin table

Notes and References

1. A Chinese-English Dictionary.