Pinyin table explained

This pinyin table is a complete listing of all Hanyu Pinyin syllables used in Standard Chinese. 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 have some syllables using each of the five different tones, most do not. Some utilize only one tone.

Pinyin entries in this page can be compared to syllables using the (unromanized) Zhuyin phonetic system in the Zhuyin table page.

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. Certain combinations are treated in a special way:

Group	Special combination
i	i + ê = ie	i + ou = iu		i + en = in	i + eng = ing
u			u + ei = ui	u + en = un	u + eng = ong
ü	ü + ê = üe			ü + en = ün	ü + eng = iong

Most syllables are a combination of an initial and a final. However, some syllables have no initials. This is shown in Pinyin as follows:

• if the syllable begins with an i, it is replaced with a y
• if the syllable begins with an u, it is replaced with a w
• if the syllable begins with an ü, it is replaced with yu
• exceptions to the rules above are indicated by yellow in the table's no initial column:

Note that the y, w, and yu replacements above do not change the pronunciation of the final in the final-only syllable. They are used to avoid ambiguity when writing words in pinyin. For example, instead of:

• "uan" and "ian" forming "uanian", which could be interpreted as:
  • "uan-ian"
  • "uan-i-an" or
  • "u-en-i-an"
• the syllables are written "wan" and "yan" which results in the more distinct "wenyan"

There are discrepancies between the Bopomofo tables and the pinyin table due to some minor differences between the Mainland standard, putonghua, and the Taiwanese standard, guoyu, in the standard readings of characters. For example, the variant sounds (ruá;), (dèn;), (tēi;) are not used in guoyu. Likewise the variant sound (lüán;) is not recognized in putonghua, or it is folded into (luán;). A few readings reflect a Standard Chinese approximation of a regionalism that is otherwise never encountered in either putonghua or guoyu. For instance, (fiào;) is a borrowing from Shanghainese (and other dialects of Wu Chinese) that are commonly used, and are thus included in most large dictionaries, even though it is usually labeled as a nonstandard regionalism (short for (topolect)), with the local reading viau [vjɔ], which is approximated in Standard Chinese as fiào.

Overall table

Syllables in italics are considered nonstandard, and only exist in the form of regionalisms, neologisms or slang.

Pinyin table		Initials																						Pinyin table
		∅	b	p	m	f	d	t	n	l	g	k	h	j	q	x	zh	ch	sh	r	z	c	s
Group a Finals	i																zhi	chi	shi	ri	zi	ci	si	i	Group a Finals
	a	a	ba	pa	ma	fa	da	ta	na	la	ga	ka	ha				zha	cha	sha		za	ca	sa	a
	o	o								lo														o
	e	e			me		de	te	ne	le	ge	ke	he				zhe	che	she	re	ze	ce	se	e
	ê	ê																						ê
	ai	ai	bai	pai	mai	fai	dai	tai	nai	lai	gai	kai	hai				zhai	chai	shai		zai	cai	sai	ai
	ei	ei	bei	pei	mei	fei	dei	tei	nei	lei	gei	kei ^[1]	hei				zhei		shei		zei	cei	sei	ei
	ao	ao	bao	pao	mao		dao	tao	nao	lao	gao	kao	hao				zhao	chao	shao	rao	zao	cao	sao	ao
	ou	ou		pou	mou	fou	dou	tou	nou	lou	gou	kou	hou				zhou	chou	shou	rou	zou	cou	sou	ou
	an	an	ban	pan	man	fan	dan	tan	nan	lan	gan	kan	han				zhan	chan	shan	ran	zan	can	san	an
	en	en	ben	pen	men	fen	den		nen	len	gen	ken	hen				zhen	chen	shen	ren	zen	cen	sen	en
	ang	ang	bang	pang	mang	fang	dang	tang	nang	lang	gang	kang	hang				zhang	chang	shang	rang	zang	cang	sang	ang
	eng	eng	beng	peng	meng	feng	deng	teng	neng	leng	geng	keng	heng				zheng	cheng	sheng	reng	zeng	ceng	seng	eng
	er	er																						er
Group i Finals	i	yi	bi	pi	mi		di	ti	ni	li				ji	qi	xi								i	Group i Finals
	ia	ya		pia			dia		nia	lia				jia	qia	xia								ia
	io	yo																						io
	ie (iê)	ye	bie	pie	mie		die	tie	nie	lie				jie	qie	xie								ie (iê)
	iai	yai																						iai
	iao	yao	biao	piao	miao	fiao	diao	tiao	niao	liao				jiao	qiao	xiao								iao
	iu (iou)	you			miu		diu		niu	liu		kiu		jiu	qiu	xiu								iu (iou)
	ian	yan	bian	pian	mian		dian	tian	nian	lian				jian	qian	xian								ian
	in (ien)	yin	bin	pin	min		din		nin	lin	gin			jin	qin	xin								in (ien)
	iang	yang	biang				diang		niang	liang		kiang		jiang	qiang	xiang								iang
	ing (ieng)	ying	bing	ping	ming		ding	ting	ning	ling	ging			jing	qing	xing								ing (ieng)
Group u Finals	u	wu	bu	pu	mu	fu	du	tu	nu	lu	gu	ku	hu				zhu	chu	shu	ru	zu	cu	su	u	Group u Finals
	ua	wa									gua	kua	hua				zhua	chua	shua	rua				ua
	uo	wo	bo	po	mo	fo	duo	tuo	nuo	luo	guo	kuo	huo				zhuo	chuo	shuo	ruo	zuo	cuo	suo	uo
	uai	wai									guai	kuai	huai				zhuai	chuai	shuai					uai
	ui (uei)	wei					dui	tui	nui		gui	kui	hui				zhui	chui	shui	rui	zui	cui	sui	ui (uei)
	uan	wan					duan	tuan	nuan	luan	guan	kuan	huan				zhuan	chuan	shuan	ruan	zuan	cuan	suan	uan
	un (uen)	wen		pun			dun	tun	nun	lun	gun	kun	hun				zhun	chun	shun	run	zun	cun	sun	un (uen)
	uang	wang					duang				guang	kuang	huang				zhuang	chuang	shuang					uang
	ong (ueng)	weng					dong	tong	nong	long	gong	kong	hong				zhong	chong	<	--Does not exist: reading for 蚣 is actually zhōng in 漢語大詞典, as it is listed under that in the index. -->	rong	zong	cong	song		ong (ueng)
		ong
Group ü Finals	ü	yu							nü	lü				ju	qu	xu								ü	Group ü Finals
	üe	yue							nüe	lüe				jue	que	xue								üe
	üan	yuan								lüan				juan	quan	xuan								üan
	ün (üen)	yun								lün				jun	qun	xun								ün (üen)
	iong (üeng)	yong												jiong	qiong	xiong								iong (üeng)
Pinyin table		∅	b	p	m	f	d	t	n	l	g	k	h	j	q	x	zh	ch	sh	r	z	c	s	Pinyin table
		Initials

Color Legend:

width=200 style="background:#EAECF0;"

"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

width=200 style="background:#CCCCCC;"

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

width=200

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

width=200 style="background:#FFFFCC;"

syllable is modified combination of initial and final

There are also a very small number of syllables consisting only of consonants: m (呣), n (嗯), ng (嗯), hm (噷), hng (哼).

Erhua contraction

Additional syllables in pinyin exist to represent the erhua phenomenon by combining the affected syllable with an -r ending, rather than transcribing 兒/儿 as a separate ér syllable. This can be seen as analogous to certain contractions in English such as "they're" in place of "they are".

Original characters	那裡、那里	人緣、人缘	兒媳婦、儿媳妇	+	Original pinyin	nàli	rényuán	érxífu
Erhua characters	那兒、那儿	人緣兒、人缘儿	兒媳婦兒、儿媳妇儿	+	Erhua pinyin	nàr	rényuánr	érxífur

See also

• Wade–Giles table
• Palladius table
• Zhuyin table
• Cyrillization of Chinese
• Comparison of Chinese transcription systems

External links

• Standard Mandarin Pinyin Table The complete listing of all Pinyin syllables used in Standard Chinese, along with native speaker pronunciation for each syllable.
• Pinyin table Pinyin table, syllables are pronounced in all four tones.
• Pinyin Chart for Web Pinyin Chart for Web, every available tones in the Chinese language included.
• Pinyin Chart for iPad Pinyin Chart app for iPad, every available tone in the Chinese language included.
• Pinyin Chart for iPhone Pinyin Chart app for iPhone, every available tones in the Chinese language included.
• Pinyin Table for Android Pinyin Table for Android, every available tones in the Chinese language included.

Notes and References

1. See http://research.chtsai.org/papers/pinyin-xref.html