Bopomofo

Bopomofo, also called Zhuyin (Chinese: 注音) or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, is the major Chinese transliteration system for Mandarin Chinese and other related languages and dialects which is nowadays most commonly used in Taiwanese Mandarin. It is also used to transcribe other varieties of Chinese, particularly other varieties of Standard Chinese and related Mandarin dialects, as well as Taiwanese Hokkien.

"Zhuyin" and "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols" redirect here. For the mythological creature, see Zhulong (mythology).

Bopomofo 注音符號 注音符号 （ㄅㄆㄇㄈ）
百科全書 百科全书 (encyclopedia) in Zhuyin Fuhao
Type	Semisyllabary (letters for onsets and rhymes; diacritics for tones)
Creator	Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation Introduced by the Beiyang government of the Republic of China
Time period	1918[1] to 1958 in mainland China (used in a secondary position to Hanyu Pinyin in all editions of Xiandai Hanyu Cidian from 1960 to present 2016 edition); 1945 to the present in Taiwan
Parent systems	Oracle Bone Script Seal Script Clerical Script Bopomofo 注音符號 注音符号 （ㄅㄆㄇㄈ）
Child systems	Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols, Suzhou Phonetic Symbols, Hmu Phonetic Symbols
Sister systems	Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Bopo, 285
Unicode alias	Bopomofo
Unicode range	U+3100–U+312F Bopomofo U+31A0–U+31BF Bopomofo Extended

Mandarin Phonetic Symbol
Traditional Chinese	注音符號
Simplified Chinese	注音符号
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin zhùyīn fúhào Bopomofo ㄓㄨˋ　ㄧㄣ　ㄈㄨˊ　ㄏㄠˋ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Juh'in fwuhaw Wade–Giles Chu^4-yin^1 fu^2-hao^4 Tongyong Pinyin Jhùyin fúhào MPS2 Jùyīn fúhàu IPA [ʈʂû.ín fǔ.xâu] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jyuyām Fùhhóu Jyutping Zyu3jam1 Fu4hou2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chù-im hû-hō Tâi-lô Tsù-im hû-hō

Zhuyin Fuhao and Zhuyin are traditional terms, whereas Bopomofo is the colloquial term, also used by the ISO and Unicode. Consisting of 37 characters and four tone marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Zhuyin was introduced in China by the Republican Government in the 1910s and used alongside the Wade–Giles system, which used a modified Latin alphabet. The Wade system was replaced by Hanyu Pinyin in 1958 by the Government of the People's Republic of China,[2] and at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982.[3] Bopomofo is an official transliteration system in Taiwan, being used in Guoyu Jianbian Cidian, Guoyu Chongbian Cidian and other documents. It is widely used as the main electronic input method for Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan (ROC). Taiwan adopted Hanyu Pinyin as one of the official romanization systems for Mandarin Chinese in 2009,[4] but the system is not commonly used in electronic input.

Etymology

The name Bopomofo comes from the first four letters of Zhuyin: ㄅ, ㄆ, ㄇ and ㄈ.[5] Meanwhile, Zhuyin (注音) literally means phonetic notation.

Similarly to the way that the word "alphabet" is ultimately derived from the names of the first two letters of the alphabet (alpha and beta), the name "Bopomofo" is derived from the first four syllables in the conventional ordering of available syllables in Mandarin Chinese. The four Bopomofo characters (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) that correspond to these syllables are usually placed first in a list of these characters. The same sequence is sometimes used by other speakers of Chinese to refer to other phonetic systems.

The original formal name of the system was 國音字母; Guóyīn Zìmǔ; 'National Language Phonetic Alphabet' and 註音字母; Zhùyīn Zìmǔ; 'Phonetic Alphabet or Annotated Phonetic Letters'.[6] It was later renamed 注音符號; Zhùyīn Fúhào; 'phonetic symbols'.

In official documents, Zhuyin is occasionally called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as "MPS I" (注音一式).

In English translations, the system is often also called either Chu-in or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols.[6][7] A romanized phonetic system was released in 1984 as Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (MPS II).

History

Origins

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

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Wu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Zhuyin Zimu,[6] which was based on Zhang Binglin's shorthand. A draft was released on July 11, 1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until November 23, 1928.[6] It was later renamed first Guoyin Zimu and then, in April 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao. The last renaming addressed fears that the alphabetic system might independently replace Chinese characters.[8]

Modern use

Direction sign for children in Taipei including bopomofo

Bopomofo is the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in elementary school in Taiwan. It is also the most popular way to enter Chinese characters into computers and smartphones and to look up characters in a dictionary.

In elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Bopomofo as ruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one children's newspaper in Taiwan, the Mandarin Daily News, annotates all articles with Zhuyin ruby characters.

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

Bopomofo is shown in a secondary position to Hanyu Pinyin in all editions of Xiandai Hanyu Cidian from the 1960 edition to present 2016 edition (7th edition).

Origin of symbols

Table showing Zhuyin in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Bopomofo in Regular, Handwritten Regular & Cursive formats

The Zhuyin characters were created by Zhang 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 of place of articulation, from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, /l/ etc.

Origin of zhuyin symbols

Consonants
Zhuyin	Origin	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄅ	From 勹, the ancient form and current top portion of 包 bāo, "to wrap up; package"	p	b	p	包 bāo ㄅㄠ
ㄆ	From 攵, a variant form of 攴 pū, "to knock lightly".	pʰ	p	pʻ	撲 pū ㄆㄨ
ㄇ	From 冂, the archaic character and current "cover" radical 冖 mì.	m	m	m	冞 mí ㄇㄧˊ
ㄈ	From "right open box" radical 匚 fāng.	f	f	f	匪 fěi ㄈㄟˇ
ㄉ	From 𠚣, archaic form of 刀 dāo. Compare the Shuowen seal .	t	d	t	地 dì ㄉㄧˋ
ㄊ	From ㄊ tū, an upside-down form of 子 zǐ and an ancient form of 突 tū ( and in seal script)[9][10]	tʰ	t	tʻ	提 tí ㄊㄧˊ
ㄋ	From /𠄎, ancient form of 乃 nǎi (be)	n	n	n	你 nǐ ㄋㄧˇ
ㄌ	From 𠠲, archaic form of 力 lì	l	l	l	利 lì ㄌㄧˋ
ㄍ	From the obsolete character 巜 guì/kuài "river"	k	g	k	告 gào ㄍㄠˋ
ㄎ	From the archaic character, now "breath" or "sigh" component 丂 kǎo	kʰ	k	kʻ	考 kǎo ㄎㄠˇ
ㄏ	From the archaic character and current radical 厂 hǎn	x	h	h	好 hǎo ㄏㄠˇ
ㄐ	From the archaic character 丩 jiū	tɕ	j	ch	叫 jiào ㄐㄧㄠˋ
ㄑ	From the archaic character 𡿨 quǎn, graphic root of the character 巛 chuān (modern 川)	tɕʰ	q	chʻ	巧 qiǎo ㄑㄧㄠˇ
ㄒ	From 丅, an ancient form of 下 xià.	ɕ	x	hs	小 xiǎo ㄒㄧㄠˇ
ㄓ	From /𡳿, archaic form of 之 zhī.	ʈʂ	zhi, zh-	ch	知 zhī ㄓ; 主 zhǔ ㄓㄨˇ
ㄔ	From the character and radical 彳 chì	ʈʂʰ	chi, ch-	chʻ	吃 chī ㄔ; 出 chū ㄔㄨ
ㄕ	From 𡰣, an ancient form of 尸 shī	ʂ	shi, sh-	sh	是 shì ㄕˋ; 束 shù ㄕㄨˋ
ㄖ	Modified from the seal script form of 日 rì (day/sun)	ɻ~ʐ	ri, r-	j	日 rì ㄖˋ; 入 rù ㄖㄨˋ
ㄗ	From the archaic character and current radical 卩 jié, dialectically zié ([tsjě]; tsieh² in Wade–Giles)	ts	zi, z-	ts	字 zì ㄗˋ; 在 zài ㄗㄞˋ
ㄘ	From 𠀁, archaic form of 七 qī, dialectically ciī ([tsʰí]; tsʻi¹ in Wade–Giles). Compare semi-cursive form and seal-script .	tsʰ	ci, c-	tsʻ	詞 cí ㄘˊ; 才 cái ㄘㄞˊ
ㄙ	From the archaic character 厶 sī, which was later replaced by its compound 私 sī.	s	si, s-	s	四 sì ㄙˋ; 塞 sāi ㄙㄞ
Rhymes and medials
Zhuyin	Origin	IPA	Pinyin	WG	Example
ㄚ	From 丫 yā	a	a	a	大 dà ㄉㄚˋ
ㄛ	From the obsolete character 𠀀 hē, inhalation, the reverse of 丂 kǎo, which is preserved as a phonetic in the compound 可 kě.[11]	o	o	o	多 duō ㄉㄨㄛ
ㄜ	Derived from its allophone in Standard Chinese, ㄛ o	ɤ	e	o/ê	得 dé ㄉㄜˊ
ㄝ	From 也 yě (also). Compare the Warring States bamboo form	e	ê	eh	爹 diē ㄉㄧㄝ
ㄞ	From 𠀅 hài, archaic form of 亥.	ai	ai	ai	晒 shài ㄕㄞˋ
ㄟ	From 乁 yí, an obsolete character meaning 移 yí "to move".	ei	ei	ei	誰 shéi ㄕㄟˊ
ㄠ	From 幺 yāo	au	ao	ao	少 shǎo ㄕㄠˇ
ㄡ	From 又 yòu	ou	ou	ou	收 shōu ㄕㄡ
ㄢ	From the archaic character 𢎘 hàn "to bloom", preserved as a phonetic in the compound 犯 fàn	an	an	an	山 shān ㄕㄢ
ㄣ	From 𠃉, archaic variant of 鳦 yǐ or 乚 yà[12] (乚 is yǐn according to other sources[13])	ən	en	ên	申 shēn ㄕㄣ
ㄤ	From 尢 wāng	aŋ	ang	ang	上 shàng ㄕㄤˋ
ㄥ	From 𠃋, archaic form of 肱 gōng[14]	əŋ	eng	êng	生 shēng ㄕㄥ
ㄦ	From 儿, the bottom portion of 兒 ér used as a cursive and simplified form	aɚ	er	êrh	而 ér ㄦˊ
ㄧ	From 一 yī (one)	i	yi, -i	i	以 yǐ ㄧˇ; 逆 nì ㄋㄧˋ
ㄨ	From 㐅, ancient form of 五 wǔ (five). Compare the transitory form 𠄡.	u	w, wu, -u	u/w	努 nǔ ㄋㄨˇ; 我 wǒ ㄨㄛˇ
ㄩ	From the ancient character 凵 qū, which remains as a radical	y	yu, -ü	ü/yü	雨 yǔ ㄩˇ; 女 nǚ ㄋㄩˇ
ㄭ	From the character 帀. It represents the minimal vowel of ㄓ，ㄔ，ㄕ，ㄖ，ㄗ，ㄘ，ㄙ， though it is not used after them in transcription.[15]	ɻ̩~ʐ̩, ɹ̩~z̩	-i	ih/ŭ	資 zī ㄗ; 知 zhī ㄓ; 死 sǐ ㄙˇ

Writing

Stroke order

Zhuyin is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters. Note that ㄖ is written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (Chinese: 日; pinyin: rì), which has four strokes.

ㄧ can 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 Republic of China almost exclusively uses horizontal writing, so the vertical form has become the standard form there.

Language education in Taiwan 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.[16] Unicode 8.0.0 published an errata in 2014 that updates the representative glyph to be the horizontal form.[17] 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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Tonal marks

As shown in the following table, tone marks for the second, third, and fourth tones are shared between bopomofo and pinyin. In bopomofo, the first tone mark is usually omitted but can be included[18][19] while a dot above indicates the fifth tone (also known as the neutral tone). In pinyin, a macron (overbar) indicates the first tone and the lack of a marker usually indicates the fifth (light) tone.

Tone	Bopomofo		Pinyin
	Tone Marker	Unicode Name	Tone Marker	Unicode Name
1	ˉ	Modifier Letter Macron (usually omitted)[18][19]	◌̄	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)[20]

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

Zhuyin, when used in conjunction with Chinese characters, are typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically or to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print (see Ruby characters).

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

瓶 ㄆ ㄧ ㄥˊ 子 ˙ ㄗ

or

ㄆㄧㄥˊ ˙ㄗ 瓶 子

Erhua transcription

Erhua-ed words merge as a single syllable, which means ㄦ is attached to the precedent syllable (like 歌兒（ㄍㄜㄦ） gēr). In case the syllable uses other tones than 1st tone, the tone is attached to the penultimate syllable, but not to ㄦ (e.g. 哪兒（ㄋㄚˇㄦ） nǎr; 一（ㄧ）點兒（ㄉㄧㄢˇㄦ） yīdiǎnr; 好（ㄏㄠˇ）玩兒（ㄨㄢˊㄦ） hǎowánr).[21]

Comparison

Pinyin

Zhuyin and pinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations, hence there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two systems:

IPA and pinyin counterparts of Zhuyin 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] ㄛ ^3 o -o ^3	[ɤ] ㄜ e -e		[ai̯] ㄞ ai -ai	[ei̯] ㄟ ei -ei	[au̯] ㄠ ao -ao	[ou̯] ㄡ ou -ou	[an] ㄢ an -an	[ən] ㄣ en -en	[aŋ] ㄤ ang -ang	[əŋ] ㄥ eng -eng	[aɚ] ㄦ er
	ㄧ	[i] ㄧ yi -i	[i̯a] ㄧㄚ ya -ia			[i̯e] ㄧㄝ ye -ie			[i̯au̯] ㄧㄠ yao -iao	[i̯ou̯] ㄧㄡ you -iu	[i̯ɛn] ㄧㄢ yan -ian	[in] ㄧㄣ yin -in	[i̯aŋ] ㄧㄤ yang -iang	[iŋ] ㄧㄥ ying -ing
	ㄨ	[u] ㄨ wu -u	[u̯a] ㄨㄚ wa -ua	[u̯o] ㄨㄛ ^3 wo -uo ^3			[u̯ai̯] ㄨㄞ wai -uai	[u̯ei̯] ㄨㄟ wei -ui			[u̯an] ㄨㄢ wan -uan	[u̯ən] ㄨㄣ wen -un	[u̯aŋ] ㄨㄤ wang -uang	[u̯əŋ], [ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ weng -ong ^4
	ㄩ	[y] ㄩ yu -ü ^2				[y̯e] ㄩㄝ yue -üe ^2					[y̯ɛn] ㄩㄢ yuan -üan ^2	[yn] ㄩㄣ yun -ün ^2		[i̯ʊŋ] ㄩㄥ yong -iong

¹ Not 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

Vowels a, e, o

IPA	a	ɔ	ɛ	ɤ	ai	ei	au	ou	an	ən	aŋ	əŋ	ʊŋ	aɚ
Pinyin	a	o	ê	e	ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	er
Tongyong Pinyin			e	e
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	阿	哦	呗/唄	俄	艾	黑	凹	偶	安	恩	昂	冷	中	二

Vowels i, 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	一	也	又	言	音	英	用	五	我	位	文	翁	玉	月	元	云/雲

Non-sibilant consonants

IPA	p	pʰ	m	fəŋ	tjou	twei	twən	tʰɤ	ny	ly	kɤɚ	kʰɤ	xɤ
Pinyin	b	p	m	feng	diu	dui	dun	te	nü	lü	ger	ke	he
Tongyong Pinyin				fong	diou	duei			nyu	lyu
Wade–Giles	p	pʻ		fêng	tiu	tui	tun	tʻê	nü	lü	kor	kʻo	ho
Bopomofo	ㄅ	ㄆ	ㄇ	ㄈㄥ	ㄉㄧㄡ	ㄉㄨㄟ	ㄉㄨㄣ	ㄊㄜ	ㄋㄩ	ㄌㄩ	ㄍㄜㄦ	ㄎㄜ	ㄏㄜ
example	玻	婆	末	封	丟	兑/兌	顿/頓	特	女	旅	歌儿/歌兒	可	何

Sibilant consonants

IPA	tɕjɛn	tɕjʊŋ	tɕʰin	ɕɥɛn	ʈʂɤ	ʈʂɨ	ʈʂʰɤ	ʈʂʰɨ	ʂɤ	ʂɨ	ɻɤ	ɻɨ	tsɤ	tswo	tsɨ	tsʰɤ	tsʰɨ	sɤ	sɨ
Pinyin	jian	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	件	窘	秦	宣	哲	之	扯	赤	社	是	惹	日	仄	左	字	策	次	色	斯

Tones

IPA	ma˥˥	ma˧˥	ma˨˩˦	ma˥˩	ma
Pinyin	mā	má	mǎ	mà	ma
Tongyong Pinyin	ma				må
Wade–Giles	ma^1	ma^2	ma^3	ma^4	ma
Bopomofo	ㄇㄚ	ㄇㄚˊ	ㄇㄚˇ	ㄇㄚˋ	˙ㄇㄚ
example (Chinese characters)	妈/媽	麻	马/馬	骂/罵	吗/嗎

Use outside Standard Mandarin

Three letters were formerly used in the 1913 standard of Mandarin as well as in non-Mandarin Chinese varieties. Some Zhuyin fonts do not contain these letters; see External links for PDF pictures.

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

Zhuyin	IPA	GR	Pinyin
ㄪ	v	v	v
ㄫ	ŋ	ng	ng
ㄬ	ɲ	gn	ny

Computer uses

Input method

An example of a Zhuyin keypad for Taiwan

Zhuyin can be used as an input method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without the user 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 certain cell phones.

A typical keyboard layout for Zhuyin on computers

Unicode

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

Zhuyin was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for Zhuyin, called 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 13.0 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 13.0

Unicode 3.0 also added the characters U+02EA ˪ MODIFIER LETTER YIN DEPARTING TONE MARK and U+02EB ˫ MODIFIER LETTER YANG DEPARTING TONE MARK, in the Spacing Modifier Letters block. These two characters are now (since Unicode 6.0) classified as Bopomofo characters.[22]

See also

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

References

1. 中國文字改革委員會 (Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language). 漢語拼音方案（草案） (Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (Draft)). Beijing. Feb 1956. Page 15. "注音字母是1913年拟定，1918年公布的。"
2. "Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday". Xinhua News Agency. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
3. "ISO 7098:1982 – Documentation – Romanization of Chinese". Retrieved 2009-03-01.
4. Shih Hsiu-Chuan (18 Sep 2008). "Hanyu Pinyin to be standard system in 2009". Taipei Times. p. 2.
5. "Zhuyin fuhao / Bopomofo (注音符號／ㄅㄆㄇㄈ)" Omniglot
6. The Republic of China government, Government Information Office. "Taiwan Yearbook 2006: The People & Languages". Archived from the original on 2007-05-09. |Also available at
7. Taiwan Headlines. "Taiwan Headlines: Society News: New Taiwanese dictionary unveiled". Government Information Office, Taiwan(ROC). Archived from the original on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
8. John DeFrancis. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. p. 242.
9. Wenlin dictionary, entry 𠫓.
10. KangXi: page 164, character 1http://www.kangxizidian.com/kangxi/0164.gif
11. "Unihan data for U+20000".
12. Wenlin dictionary, entry 𠃉.
13. "Unihan data for U+4E5A".
14. Wenlin dictionary, entry 𠃋.
15. Michael Everson, H. W. Ho, Andrew West, "Proposal to encode one Bopomofo character in the UCS", SC2 WG2 N3179.
16. Unicode document L2/14-189
17. Unicode Consortium, "Errata Fixed in Unicode 8.0.0"
18. Department of Lifelong Education, Ministry of Education 教育部終身教育司, ed. (January 2017). 國語注音手冊 (in Chinese). Ministry of Education; Digital version: Wanderer Digital Publishing Inc. 汪達數位出版股份有限公司. pp. 2, 7. ISBN 978-986-051-481-0. 韻符「ㄭ」，陰平調號「」，注音時省略不標{...}陰平 以一短橫代表高平之聲調，注音時可省略不標。標注在字音最後一個符號右上角。
19. Department of Lifelong Education, Ministry of Education 教育部終身教育司, ed. (January 2017). "The Manual of the Phonetic Symbols of Mandarin Chinese" (in English and Chinese). Ministry of Education; Digital version: Wanderer Digital Publishing Inc. 汪達數位出版股份有限公司. pp. 2, 7. ISBN 978-986-051-869-6. the rhyme symbol,“ㄭ”, and the mark of Yin-ping tone, “”, would be left out on Bopomofo notes.{...}1st tone This high and level tone can be noted as a short dash mark and could be left out in Bopomofo note. This tone should be left out.
20. The middle dot may optionally precede light-tone syllables only in reference books (辞书), see section 7.3 Archived 2016-02-17 at the Wayback Machine of the PRC national standard GB/T 16159-2012 Basic rules of the Chinese phonetic alphabet orthography.
21. "The Zhuyin Alphabet 注音字母 Transcription System (Bo-po-mo-fo) (www.chinaknowledge.de)". www.chinaknowledge.de.
22. "Scripts-6.0.0.txt". Unicode Consortium.

External links

• The Manual of The Phonetic Symbols of Mandarin Chinese
• Unicode reference 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 for Big5 encoding
• Chinese Phonetic Conversion Tool – converts between Pinyin, Zhuyin 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->IPA National 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. See IPA help preview, SIL International website. (Accessed 23-12-2010).
• 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 into OpenOffice Writer for further editing
• 《請利用螢幕上的小鍵盤輸入注音符號》 – online keyboard for bopomofo which can turn it into Chinese characters
• Online Zhuyin-Bopomofo Input Method Editor 免费在线中文输入法，使用注音