Bopomofo
/ˌboʊ.poʊˈmoʊ.foʊ/noun
A phonetic system used chiefly in Taiwan to represent the sounds of Mandarin Chinese.
Did you know?The name is an alphabetic-style nickname formed from the first four Zhuyin symbols: ㄅ, ㄆ, ㄇ, and ㄈ, whose Mandarin names are bō, pō, mō, and fō.
Etymological Timeline
1913–1918
Chinese
注音字母
““注音 letters,” the original name for a system designed to indicate Mandarin pronunciation”
1913
Chinese
ㄅㄆㄇㄈ
“The initial four symbols selected for the new Mandarin phonetic notation”
1918
Chinese
注音字母
“The system was officially promulgated in China as the National Phonetic Alphabet”
1920s
Chinese
ㄅㄆㄇㄈ
“The sequence began functioning as a memorable spoken nickname for the system”
1930
Chinese
注音符号
“The official name was changed to “phonetic symbols,” later commonly called Zhuyin”
Modern English
English
bopomofo
“An English rendering of the first four symbol names, especially associated with Taiwan’s Mandarin education”