Pinyin

views updated May 29 2018

Pin·yin / ˈpinˈyin/ (also pin·yin) • n. the standard system of romanized spelling for transliterating Chinese.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

Pinyin

views updated May 11 2018

Pinyin the standard system of romanized spelling for transliterating Chinese, which superseded the earlier Wade–Giles system. Recorded from the 1960s, the term comes from Chinese pīn-yīn, literally ‘spell-sound’.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

Pinyin

views updated May 17 2018

Pinyin System of spelling used to transliterate ideographic Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. It is a phonetic system (it represents the sounds of words) and was officially adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1958.

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Pinyin

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