Zhuyin Symbol Chart | Chinese Phonetic Characters

The Zhuyin symbol chart is a standard Chinese phonetic tool, originally formulated by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China in 1913 and officially released in 1918. Also known as "Zhuyin Alphabet" or "ㄅㄆㄇㄈ", it is constructed from components of Chinese characters or simplified ancient characters. It is currently the primary phonetic tool for Chinese characters in Taiwan and one of the cornerstones of Chinese language teaching and dictionary compilation. This page fully includes all 37 official Zhuyin symbols (21 initials, 3 medials, 13 finals) and provides standard Pinyin comparisons, Unicode encodings, and HTML entities for each symbol, making it convenient for learners, developers, and content creators to accurately use these special characters in digital environments.

🔡 Initial Consonant System (21)

ㄅ (b) Called "b", is a bilabial unaspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "巴", "班". Its Unicode is U+3105, HTML entity is ㄅ. Note the shape resembles the top of "包", keep the right fold natural when writing.

ㄆ (p) Called "p", is a bilabial aspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "怕", "盘". Its Unicode is U+3106, HTML entity is ㄆ. Main difference from ㄅ is aspiration strength.

ㄇ (m) Called "m", is a bilabial nasal, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "妈", "满". Its Unicode is U+3107, HTML entity is ㄇ. Shape taken from the cover of "幂", close lips and let air through nose.

ㄈ (f) Called "f", is a labiodental voiceless fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "发", "饭". Its Unicode is U+3108, HTML entity is ㄈ. Shape like "匚" frame, distinguish from radical "匸".

ㄉ (d) Called "d", is an alveolar unaspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "大", "蛋". Its Unicode is U+3109, HTML entity is ㄉ. Shape derived from ancient "刀", read lightly.

ㄊ (t) Called "t", is an alveolar aspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "他", "谈". Its Unicode is U+310A, HTML entity is ㄊ. Resembles upper part of "突", write horizontal then vertical.

ㄋ (n) Called "n", is an alveolar nasal, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "那", "南". Its Unicode is U+310B, HTML entity is ㄋ. Shape similar to "乃", press tongue tip against upper alveolar ridge.

ㄌ (l) Called "l", is an alveolar lateral approximant, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "拉", "蓝". Its Unicode is U+310C, HTML entity is ㄌ. Shape like a variation of "力", air flows through sides of tongue.

ㄍ (g) Called "g", is a velar unaspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "嘎", "干". Its Unicode is U+310D, HTML entity is ㄍ. Symbol taken from upper part of "巜", concise writing.

ㄎ (k) Called "k", is a velar aspirated voiceless stop, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "卡", "看". Its Unicode is U+310E, HTML entity is ㄎ. Shaped like "丂", forms aspiration contrast with ㄍ.

ㄏ (h) Called "h", is a velar voiceless fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "哈", "汉". Its Unicode is U+310F, HTML entity is ㄏ. Shape takes the top of "厂", similar to English h but lighter friction.

ㄐ (j) Called "j", is an alveolo-palatal unaspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "家", "见". Its Unicode is U+3110, HTML entity is ㄐ. Symbol resembles "丩", press tongue body against hard palate.

ㄑ (q) Called "q", is an alveolo-palatal aspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "恰", "前". Its Unicode is U+3111, HTML entity is ㄑ. Shaped like "𡿨", aspiration contrast pair with ㄐ.

ㄒ (x) Called "x", is an alveolo-palatal voiceless fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "虾", "先". Its Unicode is U+3112, HTML entity is ㄒ. Shape like rotated "丅", approach hard palate with tongue body.

ㄓ (zh) Called "zh", is a retroflex unaspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "扎", "站". Its Unicode is U+3113, HTML entity is ㄓ. Shape derived from "之", curl tongue tip when pronouncing.

ㄔ (ch) Called "ch", is a retroflex aspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "查", "产". Its Unicode is U+3114, HTML entity is ㄔ. Resembles radical "彳", aspirated.

ㄕ (sh) Called "sh", is a retroflex voiceless fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "沙", "山". Its Unicode is U+3115, HTML entity is ㄕ. Shape takes "尸", noticeable friction.

ㄖ (r) Called "r", is a retroflex voiced fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "然", "让". Its Unicode is U+3116, HTML entity is ㄖ. Corresponds to ㄕ but with vocal cord vibration.

ㄗ (z) Called "z", is an alveolar unaspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "杂", "赞". Its Unicode is U+3117, HTML entity is ㄗ. Shape taken from radical "卩".

ㄘ (c) Called "c", is an alveolar aspirated voiceless affricate, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "擦", "参". Its Unicode is U+3118, HTML entity is ㄘ. Resembles "七" but strokes differ.

ㄙ (s) Called "s", is an alveolar voiceless fricative, commonly used to mark the initial of characters like "撒", "三". Its Unicode is U+3119, HTML entity is ㄙ. Shape like "厶", air squeezed through narrow channel.

🔄 Medial System (3)

ㄧ (i) Called "yi", is the unrounded medial, commonly used to mark the medial of characters like "家", "边". Its Unicode is U+3127, HTML entity is ㄧ. Can stand alone as a final, write like a vertical line.

ㄨ (u) Called "wu", is the rounded medial, commonly used to mark the medial of characters like "瓜", "端". Its Unicode is U+3128, HTML entity is ㄨ. Shape like abbreviated "五", round lips.

ㄩ (ü) Called "yu", is the rounded front medial, commonly used to mark the medial of characters like "娟", "宣". Its Unicode is U+3129, HTML entity is ㄩ. Two dots above indicate rounded lip feature.

🎵 Final System (13)

ㄚ (a) Called "a", is an open low vowel, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "巴", "大". Its Unicode is U+311A, HTML entity is ㄚ. Open mouth wide when pronouncing.

ㄛ (o) Called "o", is a mid-back rounded vowel, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "波", "佛". Its Unicode is U+311B, HTML entity is ㄛ. Keep lips rounded.

ㄜ (e) Called "e", is a mid-back unrounded vowel, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "哥", "喝". Its Unicode is U+311C, HTML entity is ㄜ. Tongue position same as ㄛ but lips unrounded.

ㄝ (ê) Called "ê", is a mid-front unrounded vowel, commonly used to mark the final nucleus of characters like "谢", "月". Its Unicode is U+311D, HTML entity is ㄝ. Usually only appears in compound finals.

ㄞ (ai) Called "ai", is a front-closing diphthong, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "白", "该". Its Unicode is U+311E, HTML entity is ㄞ. Glide from ㄚ to ㄧ.

ㄟ (ei) Called "ei", is a front-closing diphthong, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "北", "黑". Its Unicode is U+311F, HTML entity is ㄟ. Starting tongue position slightly higher than ㄝ.

ㄠ (ao) Called "ao", is a back-closing diphthong, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "包", "高". Its Unicode is U+3120, HTML entity is ㄠ. Glide from ㄚ back to ㄨ.

ㄡ (ou) Called "ou", is a back-closing diphthong, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "都", "猴". Its Unicode is U+3121, HTML entity is ㄡ. Glide from ㄛ to ㄨ with increased rounding.

ㄢ (an) Called "an", is an alveolar nasal final, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "班", "干". Its Unicode is U+3122, HTML entity is ㄢ. Ends with ㄋ.

ㄣ (en) Called "en", is an alveolar nasal final, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "本", "跟". Its Unicode is U+3123, HTML entity is ㄣ. Tongue tip touches upper alveolar ridge at end.

ㄤ (ang) Called "ang", is a velar nasal final, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "帮", "刚". Its Unicode is U+3124, HTML entity is ㄤ. Ends with ㄫ, soft palate lowers.

ㄥ (eng) Called "eng", is a velar nasal final, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "崩", "更". Its Unicode is U+3125, HTML entity is ㄥ. Similar to ㄣ but tongue root raised.

ㄦ (er) Called "er", is a retroflex vowel, commonly used to mark the final of characters like "二", "耳". Its Unicode is U+3126, HTML entity is ㄦ. Curl tongue tip toward hard palate when pronouncing.

💡 Usage Tips & Notes

When inputting Zhuyin symbols on a keyboard, you usually need to use a Zhuyin input method (like Microsoft Zhuyin, Natural Input, etc.) to type directly, or insert via Unicode code points. In web development, it's recommended to always declare UTF-8 encoding to ensure correct symbol rendering. The Pinyin comparisons on this page refer to the Hanyu Pinyin scheme, but there are a few special cases in the correspondence between Zhuyin and Pinyin (e.g., "ㄝ" corresponds to "ê"). For historical documents or paleography research, some obsolete variant symbols (like "ㄪ" for v, "ㄫ" for ng, "ㄬ" for gn) have been discontinued in standard Mandarin and are only used for dialect notation. If you need to convert Zhuyin symbols into vector graphics, you can directly click the symbol card to get SVG source code or download a PNG image with a transparent background, suitable for textbook layout, courseware production, or design projects.