pinyin

American  

[pin-yin] / ˈpɪnˈyɪn /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a system for transliterating Chinese into the Latin alphabet: introduced in 1958 and adopted as the official system of romanization by the People's Republic of China in 1979.

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Pinyin British  

/ ˈpɪnˈjɪn /

noun

1. a system of romanized spelling developed in China in 1958: used to transliterate Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet

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Etymology

Origin of pinyin

First recorded in 1960–65; Chinese (Mandarin) pīnyīn literally “phonetic spelling,” equivalent to pīn “arrange, classify” + yīn “sound, pronunciation”

Example Sentences

The pinyin system is 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