Help:IPA/Mandarin

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Mandarin on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Mandarin in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Mandarin pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-cmn}}, {{IPAc-cmn}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Standard Chinese phonology for more detail on the sounds of Mandarin Chinese.

Table info: Consonants, IPA, Pinyin, Wade–Giles, Bopomofo... ▼

Consonants
IPA	Pinyin	Wade–Giles	Bopomofo	Chinese example	English approximation
ɕ	x	hs	ㄒ	晓/曉/xiǎo	sheep,[lower-alpha 1] but more y-like
f	f		ㄈ	非/fēi	fan
j	y-/-i-		ㄧ	牙/yá	yes
k	g	k	ㄍ	干/gān	skin
kʰ	k	k'	ㄎ	口/kǒu	kin
l	l		ㄌ	来/來/lái	leaf
m	m		ㄇ	明/míng	moon
n	n		ㄋ，ㄣ，ㄢ	泥/ní	noon
ŋ	-ng		ㄥ，ㄤ	江/jiāng	song
p	b	p	ㄅ	帮/幫/bāng	span
pʰ	p	p'	ㄆ	滂/páng	pan
ʐ[lower-alpha 2]	r-	j	ㄖ	日/rì	pleasure, but with tongue curled or pulled back
s	s		ㄙ	私/sī	same
ʂ	sh		ㄕ	矢/shǐ	show, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back
t	d	t	ㄉ	端/duān	stop
tʰ	t	t'	ㄊ	透/tòu	top
tɕ	j	ch	ㄐ	叫/jiào	cheap,[lower-alpha 1] but more y-like (without lip rounding)
tɕʰ	q	ch'	ㄑ	去/qù	Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration)
ts	z	ts	ㄗ	子/zǐ	outset
tsʰ	c	ts'	ㄘ	此/cǐ	let's help
ʈʂ	zh	ch	ㄓ	之/zhī	cheer, but without lip rounding and with tongue curled or pulled back
ʈʂʰ	ch	ch'	ㄔ	吃/chī	Above, but with a strong burst of breath (aspiration)
w	w-/-u-		ㄨ	我/wǒ	water
x	h		ㄏ	火/huǒ	loch (Scottish English)
ɥ	yu-/-ü-[lower-alpha 3]	yü-/-ü-	ㄩ	月/yuè	between wet and yet

Vowels
IPA	Pinyin	Wade–Giles	Bopomofo	Chinese example	English approximation
a	a		ㄚ，ㄢ，ㄤ	阿，安，盎	car
a	er	êrh	ㄦ	二，兒（儿）	car
ɛ~æ	yan/-ian	yen/-ien	ㄧㄢ	言	set or sat
ɛ~æ	yuan/-üan		ㄩㄢ	元	set or sat
e	ye/-ie, yue/-üe	eh	ㄝ	也，月	hey
ə	en,[lower-alpha 4] eng	ên, êng	ㄣ，ㄥ	本，冷	atop
ɚ	er	êrh	ㄦ	二，兒（儿）	fern[lower-alpha 5]
ɤ	e	ê / o[lower-alpha 6]	ㄜ	厄	between boot and but
i	yi/-i		ㄧ	李	city
o	wo/-uo[lower-alpha 7]/-ou	o[lower-alpha 8]	ㄛ	果，狗	go, but without lip rounding
ɻ̩	zhi, chi, shi, ri	ih	ㄭ[lower-alpha 9]	之，吃，師（师），日	Below, but with tongue curled or pulled back
ɹ̩	zi, ci, si	ŭ	ㄭ[lower-alpha 9]	子，次，私	roses, cousin
u	wu/-u		ㄨ	土	cool
ʊ	-ong	-ung	ㄨㄥ，ㄩㄥ	冬，用	book
y	yu/-ü[lower-alpha 3]	yü/-ü	ㄩ	雨	beet, but with the lips rounded as for boot
Diphthongs
aɪ	ai		ㄞ	艾	time
aʊ	ao		ㄠ	凹	somewhat like out
eɪ	ei[lower-alpha 4]		ㄟ	杯	face
oʊ	ou[lower-alpha 4]		ㄡ	歐（欧）	show

Tones
IPA	Pinyin	Wade–Giles	Bopomofo	Chinese example	Tone number	Description
á	ā	a¹	ㄚ	巴/bā	tone 1	high level [˥]
ǎ	á	a²	ㄚˊ	拔/bá	tone 2	mid rising [˧˥]
à	ǎ	a³	ㄚˇ	把/bǎ	tone 3	medially, low [˩]; initially, mid falling [˧˩]; finally, low rising [˩˧]; in isolation, dipping [˧˩˧]
â	à	a⁴	ㄚˋ	爸/bà	tone 4	high falling [˥˩]
a	a	a⁰	˙ㄚ	吧/ba	tone 0 or 5 (toneless)	mid [˧] after all tones but 4, where it is low [˩]
Note: Pinyin uses the same diacritics as IPA but with different values.