Pinyin
/ˈpɪn.jɪn/noun
The official romanization system used to represent the pronunciation of Standard Mandarin with the Latin alphabet.
Did you know?Hanyu Pinyin was officially adopted by China in 1958 and later became the international standard for romanizing Mandarin place names and personal names.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Chinese
Chinese
音 (yīn)
“Sound; pronunciation”
Late Imperial Chinese
Chinese
拼 (pīn)
“To join, piece together, or combine”
20th Century
Chinese
拼音 (pīnyīn)
“To combine or spell sounds; a system for representing pronunciation”
1955–1957
Chinese
汉语拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)
““Chinese-language phonetic spelling,” the system developed by the People’s Republic of China”
1958
Chinese
汉语拼音方案
“The Hanyu Pinyin Scheme, formally approved for use in China”
Modern English
English
pinyin
“The standard Latin-alphabet transcription system for Mandarin Chinese”