APPENDIX A

Chinese Pronunciation Guide

All 402 Chinese Word-Sounds Transliterated Alphabetically in Pinyin

Including the Equivalent CNPA/BoPoMoFo Symbols and Cues for Standard Chinese Pronunciation

(NB: Bopomofo is a transliteration system used to phonetically produce the sounds of the Chinese language, first created in the 1920’s in the Republic of China, and used in China until replaced by the modern Roman-character based Pinyin system introduced in the PRC in 1958 and now used world-wide. Bopomofo is still used in Taiwan. CNPA stands for “Chinese National Phonetic Alphabet”.)

CNPA/Bopomofo Symbols with Pinyin Transliterations
Initials		Finals

ㄅ – be	ㄐ – ji	ㄚ – a	ㄥ – eng
ㄆ – pe	ㄑ – qi	ㄛ – o	ㄦ – er
ㄇ – me	ㄒ – xi	ㄜ – e	一 – yi
ㄈ – fe	ㄓ – zhi	ㄝ – eh	ㄨ – wu
ㄉ – de	ㄔ – chi	ㄞ – ai	ㄩ – yü
ㄊ – te	ㄕ – shi	ㄟ – ei
ㄋ – ne	ㄖ – ri	ㄠ – ao
ㄌ – le	ㄗ – zi	ㄡ – ou
ㄍ – ge	ㄘ – ci	ㄢ – an
ㄎ – ke	ㄙ – si	ㄣ – en
ㄏ – he		ㄤ – ang

Pronunciation Guide for Bopomofo Element Tokens
CNPA Symbol	Pinyin	Pronunciation	Comment

ㄐ	ji	‘gee’
ㄑ	qi	‘chee’
ㄒ	xi	‘shee’
ㄓ	zhi	the ‘g’-sound in the name ‘George’	NB: transliterated as ‘jh’ for pronunciation purposes at the bottom of this pronunciation chart to caution the new student to avoid the tendency to use an English ‘zh’ sound. Note that there is no phonetically English ‘zh’-sound in Chinese.
ㄖ	ri	a ‘rrr’ sound with overtones of a ‘j’-like sibilance	Note that this is NOT a simple English ‘r’-sound. This Chinese sound does not exist in English.
ㄔ	chi	has the sound ‘che’	The ‘e’ here is neither the English soft ‘e’ [ĕ] or hard ‘e’ [ē], but rather the ‘u’ sound in ‘cushion’.
ㄗ	zi	pronounced ‘dz’, like the ‘dz’ sound in the English word ‘adze’	Note: there is no phonetically English ‘z’-sound in Chinese.
ㄘ	c	‘ts’	There is no comparable sound in English.
ㄚ	a	‘ah’
ㄛ	o	‘awe’
ㄜ	e	the ‘u’ in ‘cushion’
ㄟ	ei	‘ayyy’ or ‘aei’	The same sound that Canadians use to end a sentence: like the English hard-‘a’ [ā] sound
ㄡ	ou	‘oh’	Essentially, a ‘hard’ English ‘o’ [ō] sound
ㄢ	an	‘ah’ + ‘n’
ㄣ	en	‘un’
ㄤ	ang	‘ah’ + ‘ng’
ㄥ	eng	‘ung’
一	yi	‘ee’	…the ‘y’ is silent
ㄨ	wu	‘oo’	…the ‘w’ is silent
ㄩ	yü	This sound is like ‘oo’ added to a ‘u’ sound. It is the same sound as the German ümlaut-U (ü).	…the ‘y’ is silent. There is no comparable sound in English.

The 402 Chinese Word-Sounds

Pronunciation key:

Lack of pronunciation cue in the Eng. Pronunciation Guide column indicates that pronunciation is exactly as transliterated in Pinyin using ‘normal’ English letter-sounds.
‘rh w/’ = ‘rhymes with’
+ means add the sounds together …as one syllable, not as separate syllables


Pinyin Word Sound	CNPA Symbol	English Pronunciation Guide

a	ㄚ	ah
ai	ㄞ	ah + y (rh w/) why?
an	ㄢ	ah + n
ang	ㄤ	ah + ng (rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
ao	ㄠ	ow (rh w/) ‘pow’

ba	ㄅㄚ
bai	ㄅㄞ	buy
ban	ㄅㄢ
bang	ㄅㄤ	bong (rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
bao	ㄅㄠ	bow (as a movement of the body, and not the weapon)
bei	ㄅㄟ	bay
ben	ㄅㄣ	bun
beng	ㄅㄥ	(rh w/) ‘hung’ or ‘sung’
bi	ㄅ一	bee
bian	ㄅ一ㄢ	bee + en (note that in this word and those below, the ‘bee’ sound is very short)
biao	ㄅ一ㄠ	bee + ow
bie	ㄅ一ㄝ	bee + eh
bin	ㄅ一ㄣ	been
bing	ㄅ一ㄥ
bo	ㄅㄛ	(rh w/) ‘law’ or ‘saw’
bu	ㄅㄨ	boo

ca	ㄘㄚ	ts + ah
cai	ㄘㄞ	ts + ‘ai’ – sounds like ‘i’ in ‘trial’
can	ㄘㄢ	ts + an
cang	ㄘㄤ	ts + ahng
cao	ㄘㄠ	ts + ow
ce	ㄘㄜ	ts + ‘e’ (the ‘e’ sounds like the ‘u’ in ‘cut’ or the ‘a’ sound in ‘ago’)
cen	ㄘㄣ	ts + un
ceng	ㄘㄥ	ts + ung

cha	ㄔㄚ	cha
chai	ㄔㄞ	chai – the ‘ai’ sounds like the ‘y’ in ‘try’
chan	ㄔㄢ
chang	ㄔㄤ
chao	ㄔㄠ	chow
che	ㄔㄜ	ch + e (the ‘e’ sounds like the ‘u’ in ‘cut’ or the ‘a’ sound in ‘ago’)
chen	ㄔㄣ	chun
cheng	ㄔㄥ	chung
chi	ㄔ	ch
chong	ㄔㄨㄥ
chou	ㄔㄡ	(rh w/) ‘row’ or ‘sew’
chu	ㄔㄨ	choo (like a train)
chua	ㄔㄨㄚ	ch + wa
chuai	ㄔㄨㄞ	ch + why
chuan	ㄔㄨㄢ	ch + wan
chuang	ㄔㄨㄤ	ch + wahng
chui	ㄔㄨㄟ	ch + way
chun	ㄔㄨㄣ	ch + un (rh w/) ‘bun’
chuo	ㄔㄨㄛ	ch + awe (rh w/) ‘jaw’

ci	ㄘ	tss
cong	ㄘㄨㄥ	ts + ong (‘ong’ has the sound of ‘ong’ in song)
cou	ㄘㄡ	ts + o (the ‘o’ has the sound of ‘o’ in ‘go’)
cu	ㄘㄨ	ts + oo
cuan	ㄘㄨㄢ	ts + wan
cui	ㄘㄨㄟ	ts + way
cun	ㄘㄨㄣ	ts + wun
cuo	ㄘㄨㄛ	ts + aw

da	ㄉㄚ
dai	ㄉㄞ
dan	ㄉㄢ
dang	ㄉㄤ	dahng
dao	ㄉㄠ	dow
de	ㄉㄜ	de (same sound as the French ‘de’)
dei	ㄉㄟ	day
deng	ㄉㄥ	dung
di	ㄉ一	dee
dian	ㄉ一ㄢ	dee +en (note that in this word and those below, the ‘dee’ sound is very short)
diao	ㄉ一ㄠ	dee + ow
die	ㄉ一ㄝ	dee + eh
ding	ㄉ一ㄥ
diu	ㄉ一ㄡ	dee + oh- (the ‘oh’ has the sound of ‘o’ in ‘go’)
dong	ㄉㄨㄥ	(rh w/) ‘tong’
dou	ㄉㄡ	(rh w/) ‘o’ in ‘go’
du	ㄉㄨ	dew
duan	ㄉㄨㄢ	dew + ahn
dui	ㄉㄨㄟ	dew + way
dun	ㄉㄨㄣ	like ‘dew’ + ‘en’ (together)
duo	ㄉㄨㄛ	(rh w/) ‘caw’ or ‘paw’

e	ㄜ	‘e’ here has the sound of ‘u’ in ‘cushion’
eh	ㄝ	eh
ei	ㄟ	ay (what Canadians say at the end of sentences)
en	ㄣ	un
er	ㄦ	‘are’ (sounds exactly like the letter ‘r’)

fa	ㄈㄚ	faa
fan	ㄈㄢ
fang	ㄈㄤ	(rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
fei	ㄈㄟ	fay
fen	ㄈㄣ	sounds like the English word ‘fun’
feng	ㄈㄥ	fung
fo	ㄈㄛ	faw
fou	ㄈㄡ	foe
fu	ㄈㄨ	foo

ga	ㄍㄚ
gai	ㄍㄞ	guy
gan	ㄍㄢ
gang	ㄍㄤ	gong (rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
gao	ㄍㄠ	gow
ge	ㄍㄜ	ge (rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
gei	ㄍㄟ	gay
gen	ㄍㄣ	gun
geng	ㄍㄥ	gung
gong	ㄍㄨㄥ
gou	ㄍㄡ	go
gu	ㄍㄨ	goo
gua	ㄍㄨㄚ	gwah
guai	ㄍㄨㄞ	g + why
guan	ㄍㄨㄢ	g + wan
guang	ㄍㄨㄤ	g + wang
gui	ㄍㄨㄟ	g + way
gun	ㄍㄨㄣ	gwun (very soft ‘w’-sound)
guo	ㄍㄨㄛ	(rh w/) ‘paw’

ha	ㄏㄚ
hai	ㄏㄞ	high
han	ㄏㄢ	hahn
hang	ㄏㄤ	(rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
hao	ㄏㄠ	how
he	ㄏㄜ	he (rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
hei	ㄏㄟ	hay
hen	ㄏㄣ	hun (as in ‘honey’)
heng	ㄏㄥ	hung
hong	ㄏㄨㄥ	(rh w/) ‘strong’
hou	ㄏㄡ	hoe
hu	ㄏㄨ	who
hua	ㄏㄨㄚ	h + wa
huai	ㄏㄨㄞ	h + why
huan	ㄏㄨㄢ	h + wahn
huang	ㄏㄨㄤ	h + wang
hui	ㄏㄨㄟ	h + way
hun	ㄏㄨㄣ	h + wun
huo	ㄏㄨㄛ	haw

“J” sounds in Chinese:	Note that there are two different ‘j’-sounds in the Chinese language. The ‘j’-sound immediately below (and transliterated in Pinyin as a ‘j’) is articulated the same as the English ‘j’-sound. The other ‘j’-sound is transliterated in Pinyin as ‘zh’ and is articulated differently: for more information on its pronunciation, see the listing for >ZH< below.

ji	ㄐ一	gee (just like the sound of the letter ‘g’)
jia	ㄐ一ㄚ	gee + ah (note that the ‘gee’ sound of this word and those below is very short)
jian	ㄐ一ㄢ	gee + en
jiang	ㄐ一ㄤ	gee + ah + ng
jiao	ㄐ一ㄠ	gee + ao
jie	ㄐ一ㄝ	gee + eh
jin	ㄐ一ㄣ	gin
jing	ㄐ一ㄥ
jiong	ㄐㄩㄥ	gee + ung
jiu	ㄐ一ㄡ	gee + oh
ju	ㄐㄩ	jyü
juan	ㄐㄩㄢ	jyü + en
jue	ㄐㄩㄝ	jyü + eh
jun	ㄐㄩㄣ	jyü + n

ka	ㄎㄚ
kai	ㄎㄞ	(rh w/) ‘guy’
kan	ㄎㄢ	can
kang	ㄎㄤ	(rh w/) ‘pong’ -as in ping-pong
kao	ㄎㄠ	cow
ke	ㄎㄜ	ke (rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
ken	ㄎㄣ	kun (rh w/) ‘bun’
keng	ㄎㄥ	(rh w/) ‘lung’
kong	ㄎㄨㄥ	(rh w/) English word ‘strong’
kou	ㄎㄡ	ko (rh w/) ‘go’
ku	ㄎㄨ	koo
kua	ㄎㄨㄚ	k + wa
kuai	ㄎㄨㄞ	k + wai (rh w/) ‘buy’
kuan	ㄎㄨㄢ	k + wahn
kuang	ㄎㄨㄤ	k + wang
kui	ㄎㄨㄟ	k + way
kun	ㄎㄨㄣ	k + wun
kuo	ㄎㄨㄛ	k + awe

la	ㄌㄚ
lai	ㄌㄞ	lie
lan	ㄌㄢ
lang	ㄌㄤ
lao	ㄌㄠ
le	ㄌㄜ	le (the same as the French ‘le’)
lei	ㄌㄟ	lay
leng	ㄌㄥ	lung
li	ㄌ一	lee
lia	ㄌ一ㄚ	lee + ah (note that in this word and those below, the ‘lee’ sound is very short)
lian	ㄌ一ㄢ	lee + en
liang	ㄌ一ㄤ	lee + ahng
liao	ㄌ一ㄠ	lee + aow
lie	ㄌ一ㄝ	lee + eh
lin	ㄌ一ㄣ
ling	ㄌ一ㄥ	(rh w/) ‘ring’
liu	ㄌ一ㄡ	lee + oh
lo	ㄌㄛ	law
long	ㄌㄨㄥ
lou	ㄌㄡ	low
lu	ㄌㄨ	loo
luan	ㄌㄨㄢ	lu + ahn
lun	ㄌㄨㄣ	lu + un (1 syllable)
luo	ㄌㄨㄛ	law

lü	ㄌㄩ	lyü (Note that the ‘ü’-sound is not the same sound as the sound of ‘lu’ [ㄌㄨ] above.)
lüe	ㄌㄩㄝ	lyü + eh

ma	ㄇㄚ
mai	ㄇㄞ	my
man	ㄇㄢ
mang	ㄇㄤ	mah + ng
mao	ㄇㄠ
me	ㄇㄜ	(rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
mei	ㄇㄟ	may
men	ㄇㄣ	mun
meng	ㄇㄥ	mung
mi	ㄇ一	mee
mian	ㄇ一ㄢ	mee + en (note that in this word and those below, the ‘mee’ sound is very short)
miao	ㄇ一ㄠ	mee + ao
mie	ㄇ一ㄝ	mee + eh
min	ㄇ一ㄣ	mee + n
ming	ㄇ一ㄥ	mee + ng
miu	ㄇ一ㄡ	mee + oh
mo	ㄇㄛ	maw
mou	ㄇㄡ	mow
mu	ㄇㄨ	moo

na	ㄋㄚ	nah
nai	ㄋㄞ
nan	ㄋㄢ
nang	ㄋㄤ	n + ah + ng
nao	ㄋㄠ	now
ne	ㄋㄜ	ne (rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
nei	ㄋㄟ	nay
nen	ㄋㄣ	nun
neng	ㄋㄥ	nung
ni	ㄋ一	knee
nian	ㄋ一ㄢ	nee + en (note that in this word and those below, the ‘nee’ sound is very short)
niang	ㄋ一ㄤ	nee + ahng
niao	ㄋ一ㄠ	nee + ow
nie	ㄋ一ㄝ	nee + eh
nin	ㄋ一ㄣ	neen
ning	ㄋ一ㄥ
niu	ㄋ一ㄡ	nee + oh
nong	ㄋㄨㄥ
nou	ㄋㄡ	noh
nu	ㄋㄨ	new
nuan	ㄋㄨㄢ	new + ahn
nuo	ㄋㄨㄛ	n + awe

nü	ㄋㄩ	nyü (Note the ‘ü’-sound is not the same sound as in ‘nu’ [ㄋㄨ] above)
nüe	ㄋㄩㄝ	nyü + eh

o	ㄛ	awe
ou	ㄡ	oh(!)

pa	ㄆㄚ	p + ah
pai	ㄆㄞ	pie
pan	ㄆㄢ
pang	ㄆㄤ	p + ah + ng
pao	ㄆㄠ
pei	ㄆㄟ	pay
pen	ㄆㄣ	pun
peng	ㄆㄥ	pung
pi	ㄆ一	pee
pian	ㄆ一ㄢ	pee + en (note that in this word and those below, the ‘pee’ sound is very short)
piao	ㄆ一ㄠ	pee + ao
pie	ㄆ一ㄝ	pee + eh
pin	ㄆ一ㄣ	peen
ping	ㄆ一ㄥ
po	ㄆㄛ	paw
pou	ㄆㄡ	poe
pu	ㄆㄨ	poo

qi	ㄑ一	chee
qia	ㄑ一ㄚ	chee + ah (note that in this word and those below, the ‘chee’ sound is very short)
qian	ㄑ一ㄢ	chee + en
qiang	ㄑ一ㄤ	chee + ahng
qiao	ㄑ一ㄠ	chee + ao
qie	ㄑ一ㄝ	chee + eh
qin	ㄑ一ㄣ	chin
qing	ㄑ一ㄥ	ching
qiong	ㄑㄩㄥ	chee + yong
qiu	ㄑ一ㄡ	chee + oh
qu	ㄑㄩ	chyü
quan	ㄑㄩㄢ	ch + wen
que	ㄑㄩㄝ	ch + weh
qun	ㄑㄩㄣ	ch + wün

ran	ㄖㄢ
rang	ㄖㄤ	rahng
rao	ㄖㄠ	(rh w/) ‘prow’
re	ㄖㄜ	(rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
ren	ㄖㄣ
reng	ㄖㄥ	rung
ri	ㄖ	rrreh
rong	ㄖㄨㄥ	rong
rou	ㄖㄡ	row
ru	ㄖㄨ	roo
ruan	ㄖㄨㄢ	ru + ahn
rui	ㄖㄨㄟ	ru + ay
run	ㄖㄨㄣ	ru + n
ruo	ㄖㄨㄛ	raw

sa	ㄙㄚ	s + ‘ah’
sai	ㄙㄞ
san	ㄙㄢ
sang	ㄙㄤ	s + ‘ah’ + ng
sao	ㄙㄠ
se	ㄙㄜ	(rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
sen	ㄙㄣ
seng	ㄙㄥ	sung

sha	ㄕㄚ	sh + ‘ah’
shai	ㄕㄞ
shan	ㄕㄢ
shang	ㄕㄤ	sh + ‘ah’ + ng
shao	ㄕㄠ
she	ㄕㄜ	sh + (‘a’ in ‘ago’)
shei	ㄕㄟ	(rh w/) ‘sleigh’
shen	ㄕㄣ	shun
sheng	ㄕㄥ	sh + eng
shi	ㄕ	sounds like the sound ‘shhhhh’ (sometimes pron. ‘shir’, which is typically Běijīng-style pronunciation.)
shou	ㄕㄡ	show
shu	ㄕㄨ	shu (same sound as in ‘the shoe on the foot’)
shua	ㄕㄨㄚ	shwa
shuai	ㄕㄨㄞ
shuan	ㄕㄨㄢ	shu + wen
shuang	ㄕㄨㄤ	shwang
shui	ㄕㄨㄟ	shway
shun	ㄕㄨㄣ	shwun
shuo	ㄕㄨㄛ	shaw

si	ㄙ	se
song	ㄙㄨㄥ	soong
sou	ㄙㄡ	so
su	ㄙㄨ	soo
suan	ㄙㄨㄢ	swahn
sui	ㄙㄨㄟ	s + way
sun	ㄙㄨㄣ	soo + un
suo	ㄙㄨㄛ	saw

ta	ㄊㄚ
tai	ㄊㄞ	tie
tan	ㄊㄢ
tang	ㄊㄤ	tah + ng
tao	ㄊㄠ
te	ㄊㄜ	(rh w/) the French ‘de’ or ‘le’
teng	ㄊㄥ	t + ung
ti	ㄊ一	tee
tian	ㄊ一ㄢ	tee + en
tiao	ㄊ一ㄠ	tee + ao
tie	ㄊ一ㄝ	tee + eh (note that in this word and those below, the ‘tee’ sound is very short)
ting	ㄊ一ㄥ
tong	ㄊㄨㄥ
tou	ㄊㄡ	tow
tu	ㄊㄨ	too
tuan	ㄊㄨㄢ	too + an (together, 1 syllable)
tui	ㄊㄨㄟ	too + way (together, 1 syllable)
tun	ㄊㄨㄣ	t + wun (together, 1 syllable)
tuo	ㄊㄨㄛ	taw

wa	ㄨㄚ
wai	ㄨㄞ	why
wan	ㄨㄢ
wang	ㄨㄤ	w +ahng
wei	ㄨㄟ	way
wen	ㄨㄣ	wun
weng	ㄨㄥ	w + ung
wo	ㄨㄛ	w + awe
wu	ㄨ	oo (the ‘w’ is not pronounced)

xi	ㄒ一	shee
xia	ㄒ一ㄚ	shee* + ah
xian	ㄒ一ㄢ	shee* + en
xiang	ㄒ一ㄤ	shee* + ang
xiao	ㄒ一ㄠ	shee* + ao
xie	ㄒ一ㄝ	shee* + eh
xin	ㄒ一ㄣ	sheen
xing	ㄒ一ㄥ	shing
xiong	ㄒㄩㄥ	shee* + yong
xiu	ㄒ一ㄡ	shee* + oh
xu	ㄒㄩ	shyü (Note that this, and the next 3 word-sounds contain the special ‘ü’-sound.)
xuan	ㄒㄩㄢ	shyü + wen (together, one syllable)
xue	ㄒㄩㄝ	shyü + weh
xun	ㄒㄩㄣ	shwün
*Note that for all the words above that start with ‘xi’ (ㄒ一) and/or whose pronunciations are noted as ‘shee’ + another sound, the ‘shee’ sound is very short.
ya	一ㄚ	yah
yai	一ㄞ	y + ai
yan	一ㄢ	y + en
yang	一ㄤ	y + ang
yao	一ㄠ	y + ao
ye	一ㄝ	y + ‘eh’
yi	一	‘ee’ (the ‘y’ is silent)
yin	一ㄣ	een
ying	一ㄥ	ing
yong	ㄩㄥ	young
you	一ㄡ	y + ‘oh’ (as in Stallone’s famous, “Yo, Adrian.”)

yu	ㄩ	yü (Note that this, and the next 3 word-sounds contain the special ‘ü’-sound. Also note that the ‘y’ is not usually pronounced.)
yuan	ㄩㄢ	yü + en
yue	ㄩㄝ	yü + eh
yun	ㄩㄣ	yü + un

The Pinyin “Z” transliteration	(Note: the Pinyin ‘z’ transliteration is not the ‘z’-sound of English: it is a token for a Chinese sound like the ‘dz‘ sound in the English word ‘adze’. Chinese does not have an English-style ‘z’-sound and native Chinese speakers have a difficult time learning to pronounce the English ‘z’-sound.)

za	ㄗㄚ	dz + ah
zai	ㄗㄞ	dz + ai
zan	ㄗㄢ	dz + an
zang	ㄗㄤ	dz + ahng
zao	ㄗㄠ	dz + ao
ze	ㄗㄜ	dz + (a sound in ‘ago’)
zei	ㄗㄟ	dz + ay
zen	ㄗㄣ	dz + un
zeng	ㄗㄥ	dz + ung
zi	ㄗ	dz
zong	ㄗㄨㄥ	dz + ong
zou	ㄗㄡ	dz + oh
zu	ㄗㄨ	dz + oo
zuan	ㄗㄨㄢ	dz + wahn
zui	ㄗㄨㄟ	dz + way
zun	ㄗㄨㄣ	dz + wun
zuo	ㄗㄨㄛ	dz + awe

The Pinyin ‘ZH’ transliteration	Note: the Pinyin ‘zh’ transliteration, below, is a token for a Chinese sound like the ‘g’-sounds in the name ‘George’. Cues to pronunciation below are noted with a non-standard ‘jh’ instead of the standard ‘zh’ token of Pinyin for descriptive clarity here, so that neophytes understand the ‘j’-like nature of the sound. The ‘h’ is silent (in the ‘jh’ as well as in the ‘zh’ Pinyinization,) and is there to differentiate this sound from the other Chinese ‘j’-sound which is articulated like a normal English ‘j’-sound. This Pinyin ‘zh’-type j-sound is articulated with the tip of the tongue rolled back in the mouth, almost touching the soft palate. See the extended articulation description and explanation in Articulation of Chinese Sounds.

zha	ㄓㄚ	jha (as the rasta say it)
zhai	ㄓㄞ	jhai
zhan	ㄓㄢ	jhan
zhang	ㄓㄤ	jh+ ang
zhao	ㄓㄠ	jh + ao
zhe	ㄓㄜ	jh + the ‘a’ sound in the word ‘ago’
zhen	ㄓㄣ	jh + the ‘un’ sound in the word ‘under’
zheng	ㄓㄥ	jheng
zhei	ㄓㄟ	jhay
zhi	ㄓ	like the ‘g’-sounds in the name ‘George’ (note: not “gee” but just the ‘g’-sound without “ee”.)
zhong	ㄓㄨㄥ	jhong
zhou	ㄓㄡ	jhoe (as in ‘joe’)
zhu	ㄓㄨ	jhoo
zhua	ㄓㄨㄚ	jh + wah
zhuai	ㄓㄨㄞ	jh + why
zhuan	ㄓㄨㄢ	jh + wahn
zhuang	ㄓㄨㄤ	jhu + ang
zhui	ㄓㄨㄟ	jh + way
zhun	ㄓㄨㄣ	jh + wun
zhuo	ㄓㄨㄛ	jhaw

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List of Abbreviations

(!)	Simplified character is completely different from the Traditional character
A.C.	ancient Chinese
ab.	abbreviation
acctg.	accounting
adj.	adjective or adjectival phrase (in Chinese an adj. is often simply a v. or n. to which de5 [的] is added: the 的 is usually omitted in this dictionary)
adv.	adverb or adverbial phrase
aka	also known as
alt. pron.	alternate or non-standard pronunciation
Am.	American; American usage
anat.	anatomy

anc.	ancient
arch.	archaic character, use or meaning
Arch.	Architecture; referring to Architecture or having to do with Architecture
ast.	astronomy
aux.	auxiliary verb
b.	born
bce.	Before the Common Era (=BC: Before Christ)
Bei.pron.	Beijing-style pronunciation
bf.	bound form
bib.	biblical

bot.	botany
Br.	British; British usage
Cant.	Cantonese
CCP	Chinese Communist Party
CE	Church of England
ce.	Common Era (=AD: Anno Domini)
cf.	compare
Ch.id.	Chinese idiom
char.	Chinese character
Chin.	China; Chinese

Chr.	Christianity (including both Protestantism and Catholicism)
coll.	colloquial expression or usage
conj.	conjunction
contemp.	contempuous
court.	courteous
d.	died
derog.	used as a derogatory term
dial.	dialect
dipl.	diplomacy; diplomatic
dist.	distinguished from; as distinguished from

econ.	economics
Eng.id.	English idiom
Eng.ph.	English phrase
env.	environment; environmental
ex.	exclamation
expr.	expression
fam.	familiar usage
fig.	figurative usage
fmr.	former or formerly
fr.	from

Fr.	France; French
fv.	functive verb
geol.	geology
geom.	geometry
gr.	grammar
gr.str.	grammatical structure or construction
gya	billion years ago
hist.	history; historical
id.	idiom
imp.	impolite

interch.	interchangeable with
intj.	interjection
Isl.	Islam
Jp.	Japan; Japanese; Japanese variant (of a character)
KXR	Kangxi Radical
L.	Latin, from Latin or having a Latin root
L.ph.	translation of Latin phrase (as used in English)
leg.	legal terminology
lg.	language
lit.	literal (ie. word-for-word) translation

M.	measure word (used as a numerary adjunct for nouns)
mach.	machines; machinery
math.	mathematics
ME	Middle East; Middle Eastern
mech.	mechanics
med.	medicine; medical terminology; as used in the practice of, etc.
met.	metaphorical usage
mil.	military terminology
mod.	modern usage
mus.	music or musical notation

mya	million years ago
n.	noun
na.	name or title
naut.	nautical, marine or maritime
NGOs	Non-Governmental Organizations
nph.	noun phrase; compound noun
nu.	number
obs.	obsolete
oft.	often
on.	onomatopoeia (as, a sound's written representation of how it sounds)

opp.	opposite or as opposed to
part.	particle
pat.	pattern
ph.	phrase
phil.	philosophy
phy.	physics
pl.	plural
pn.	place name, geographic location or geographic feature
pol.	polite form of address
pol.sl.	political slogan

pop.	popular speech; popularly used; common speech
pop.wr.	popularly written
pp.	past participle
pr.	pronoun
PRC	People's Republic of China; as used in the PRC
pre.	prefix
pref.	preferred
prep.	preposition
pron.	pronounced; pronunciation
pw.	place word

qs.	question sentence
qw.	question word
r.	reigned
rad.	radical- used as a part of Chinese characters
RC	Roman Catholic
regl.var.	regional variant
rve.	resultative verb ending
sa.	saying
sb.	somebody
se.	sentence

sf.	sentence fragment
sh.	short form or shortened form
sl.	slang
so.	someone
so.s	someone's
soc.	sociology
sp.	specialized language used in technical situations or by specialists (eg.: medical, legal, etc.)
Sp.	Spanish
sp.pron.	special or unusual pronunciation
sport.	as used in sports; sports terminology

ss.	sample sentence
st.	sometimes
st.pron.	sometimes pronounced
st.wr.	sometimes written
stat.	statistics
sth.	something
suf.	suffix
sv.	stative verb (an adj. which includes 'be' as in 'be (x)', often simply labeled as 'adj.')
sw.	somewhat
Switz.	Switzerland

T.S.	Tone Sandhi
tax.	taxonomy (as, scientific naming system); taxonomic name
TCM	Traditional Chinese Medicine; Chinese herbal medicine
tm.	trademark
topo.	topolect (some part of the word has been phonically transliterated from English into Chinese) (aka loanword)
tr.na.	trade name, business name or product name
trans.	translation
tslt.	transliteration
TW	Taiwan; as used in Taiwan
u.f.	used for

undef.	undefined
usu.	usually
v.	verb
var.	various; variety; variant
vern.	vernacular
vo.	separable verb-object combination
vph.	verb phrase; compound verb
vul.	vulgar
wr.	written or literary use

List of Topics