ScriptLookup

Bopomofo

Bopo Left-to-right Living Semisyllabary East Asian

Sample Characters

˪ ˫

First 48 characters from Spacing Modifier Letters (U+02EA–U+02EB)

About Bopomofo

Bopomofo (注音符號), also called Zhuyin, is a phonetic notation system for Chinese. It was created in 1913 by the Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation and is used primarily in Taiwan for teaching Mandarin Chinese pronunciation and in educational materials and dictionaries.

Bopomofo has 37 symbols (21 consonants, 13 vowels, 3 tone marks) and is written vertically or horizontally. In Taiwan, it is used as a glossing system in children's books and as an input method for typing Chinese on computers. On mainland China, the Pinyin romanization system is used instead.

Data sourced from the ISO 15924 registry, Unicode CLDR, and the Unicode Character Database.

Script Family & Lineage

Ancestor Chain
Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) › Bopomofo

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of writing system is Bopomofo?
Bopomofo is a Semisyllabary. Semisyllabaries combine syllabic and alphabetic elements.
What direction does Bopomofo read?
Bopomofo is written Left-to-right, the same direction as most European scripts.
How many languages use the Bopomofo script?
0 languages use Bopomofo according to Unicode CLDR data.
When was the Bopomofo script created?
The exact origin of the Bopomofo script is not precisely documented.

Compare Bopomofo With Another Script

Direction, characters, languages — side by side.

Key Facts

ISO Code
Bopo
ISO Number
285
Script Type
Semisyllabary
Direction
Left-to-right
Status
Living
Region
East Asian
Characters
77
Languages
0

Unicode Ranges

  • Spacing Modifier Letters
    U+02EA–U+02EB
  • Bopomofo
    U+3105–U+312F
  • Bopomofo Extended
    U+31A0–U+31BF

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