First recorded in 1960–65; Chinese (Mandarin) pīnyīn literally “phonetic spelling,” equivalent to pīn “arrange, classify” + yīn “sound, pronunciation”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The pinyin system is the one preferred by the People’s Republic of China, and most Chinese names in this textbook are written in pinyin.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
The city’s name is now spelled Nanjing under the pinyin romanization system.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
New versions of the article, in attempts to evade censors, have proliferated, from one partly written in emojis to another done in morse code, as well as pinyin, the romanisation system for Mandarin.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 11, 2020
Especially online, Chinese are experimenting with the Roman alphabet: government, “zhengfu” in pinyin, is often shortened to “ZF.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2012
Song Xiaowen Zhongli City, Taiwan Students of putonghua, or Mandarin Chinese, need to learn not just a romanization system like pinyin but also simplified and complex Chinese characters.
From Time Magazine Archive
In an experiment with 35 native English-speaking adults, researchers tracked the brain activity of participants learning a miniature language called Mini Pinyin that is based on Mandarin but with similar grammatical rules to English.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024
But he said the attacks had connections to China including cryptography relying on Pinyin phonetic versions of Chinese language characters, as well as techniques that echoed previous attacks by the Chinese government.
From Reuters ● Oct. 19, 2021
A linguist considered the father of modern China’s Pinyin Romanization system.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2017
Its impact is felt everywhere — from streets in Beijing, where signs provide Pinyin spellings alongside names written in China’s ancient script, to the name of the capital city.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2017
Until the advent of Pinyin, the most prevalent system was Wade-Giles, the work of two British diplomats in the late 19th century.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2017
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
