Bopomofo

Bopomofo, also called zhuyin or occasionally zhuyin fuhao (注音符號; 'Mandarin Phonetic Symbols'), is a transliteration system system for Standard Chinese and other Sinitic languages. It is commonly used in Taiwan. It consists of 37 characters and five tone marks, which together can transcribe all possible sounds in Mandarin Chinese.

Bopomofo
"Encyclopedia" written in bopomofo
Script type
Semisyllabary
with diacritics for tones
Creator
Time period
  • Mainland China (1918–1958)
  • Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (1960–2016; as a supplement to Hanyu Pinyin)
  • Taiwan (1945  present)
DirectionLeft-to-right, right-to-left script 
Related scripts
Parent systems
Oracle bone script
Child systems
Cantonese bopomofo, Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols, Suzhou Phonetic Symbols, Hmu Phonetic Symbols, Matsu Fuchounese bopomofo
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Bopo (285), Bopomofo
Unicode
Unicode alias
Bopomofo
Unicode range
Mandarin Phonetic Symbols
Traditional Chinese注音符號
Simplified Chinese注音符号

Bopomofo was first introduced in China during the 1910s by the Beiyang government, where it was used alongside Wade–Giles, a romanization system which used a modified Latin alphabet. Today, bopomofo is more common in Taiwan than on the mainland, and is used as a secondary electronic input method for Taiwanese Mandarin, as well as in dictionaries and other non-official documents.

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