Pinyin

See also: pinyin and pīnyīn

English

Etymology 1

20th c., from Mandarin Chinese 拼音 (pīnyīn, literally “spelled sounds”).

Alternative forms

• pinyin
• (from Wade-Giles) p'in-yin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪnjɪn/

Proper noun

Pinyin

1. A system of romanization for Standard Mandarin, used in the People’s Republic of China, and more recently in other Mandarin Chinese-speaking areas as well. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: Hanyu Pinyin

   • [1969, “A note on transliteration”, in Joseph Kitagawa, editor, Understanding Modern China‎^[1], Quadrangle Books, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 8:

     The government of the People’s Republic of China has developed its own romanization system, known as the “Pin-yin,” which is widely used in the communist world but rarely used in the West.]

Translations

romanization of Mandarin Chinese

• Arabic: بِينْيِن‎ m (bīnyin), بِينْيِن‎ m (pīnyin)
• Armenian: փինյին (pʿinyin)
• Belarusian: піньі́нь m (pinʹínʹ)
• Bulgarian: пини́н m (pinín)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 拼音 (ping³ jam¹), 漢語拼音／汉语拼音 (hon³ jyu⁵ ping³ jam¹) (full name)

  Mandarin: 拼音 (zh) (pīnyīn), (full name) 漢語拼音／汉语拼音 (zh) (hànyǔ pīnyīn)

• Czech: pinyin m, pchin-jin m
• Esperanto: pinjino (eo)
• Finnish: pinyin
• French: pinyin (fr) m
• Georgian: პინ-ინი (ṗin-ini)
• German: Pinyin (de) n
• Hebrew: פין-יין‎ m (pin-yin)
• Hindi: पिन्यिन (pinyin)
• Hungarian: pinjin (hu)
• Japanese: ピンイン (ja) (pin'in), 拼音 (ja) (ぴんいん, pin'in), ピン音 (pin'in), 併音 (ぴんいん, pin'in)
• Kazakh: пінін (pının)
• Korean: 병음(拼音) (byeong'eum), 핀인 (pinin)
• Latvian: piņjiņs m
• Macedonian: пи́нјин (mk) m (pínjin)
• Marathi: फीनयीन (phīnyīn)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: пинь-инь (pinʹ-inʹ)

• Persian: پین‌یین‎ (pin-yin)
• Portuguese: pinyin (pt) m
• Romanian: pinyin (ro) n
• Russian: пиньи́нь (ru) m (pinʹínʹ), ханью́й пиньи́нь m (xanʹjúj pinʹínʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пинјин m

  Roman: pinjin m, pinyin m

• Spanish: pinyin m
• Thai: พินอิน (th) (pin-in)
• Ukrainian: піньї́нь m (pinʹjínʹ)
• Uyghur: پىنيىن‎ (pinyin)
• Vietnamese: bính âm (拼音)
• Zhuang: ^{(please verify)} bingq, ^{(please verify)} gyoeb-yaem

Noun

Pinyin

1. A phonetic script or romanization system for various languages spoken in the People's Republic of China. [from 20th c.]
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:Pinyin.

See also

• Tongyong Pinyin
• Gwoyeu Romatzyh
• romaji
• Wade-Giles
• Yale
• Bopomofo
• Zhuyin fuhao

Further reading

• Pinyin romanization in Encyclopædia Britannica including Pinyin to Wade-Giles conversions chart
• “Pinyin, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Pinyin”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Pinyin

1. A Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Pinyin terms

Further reading

• Ethnologue entry for Pinyin, pny ⁠

Spanish

Proper noun

Pinyin m

1. Pinyin