How It Works

This table shows Chinese characters commonly used for transliterating foreign names and words. Unlike other writing systems, Mandarin Chinese has multiple character options for most sounds, but there are standard choices for transliterating names and place names.

Characters are typically chosen for their positive meanings or simple stroke count. The frequency data shows how often each character appears in actual transliterations.

Legend

Frequent - Commonly used in transliterations
Infrequent - Less commonly used

Hover over characters to highlight them. Click for pronunciation details.

Data Sources

This table was generated from analysis of transliteration frequency data:

Generated using make_syllabary.py from frequency data

Transliteration Syllabary

- b p m f d t n l g k h z c s zh ch sh r j q x
er
a
o
e
ai
ei
ao
ou
an
en
ang
eng
ong
i 西
ia
iao
ie
iou
ian
in
iang
ing
iong
u
ua
uo
uai
uei
uan
uen
uang
ueng
v
ve
ve
van
vn

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