Hanzi Pinyin Annotator

Chinese Pinyin Annotation Tool — Pinyin Above Every Character

Whether you're helping kids with homework, creating Mandarin teaching materials, or adding pronunciation guides to Chinese content online, Toolshu Pinyin Annotation makes it effortless. Paste your text, click annotate, and pinyin appears directly above each character in classic textbook style — no setup, no installation required.

Key Features

• 8 Pinyin Styles: Tone marks (zhōng), plain pinyin (zhong), tone number at end (zhong1), tone number in vowel (zho1ng), Bopomofo (ㄓㄨㄥ), Wade-Giles (chung), initials only (zh), and first letter (z) — covering education, publishing, and web development use cases.
• Polyphonic Character Support: Enable polyphonic mode to list all possible readings for each character, separated by commas — ideal for comprehensive linguistic annotation.
• Mixed Content Handling: Punctuation, digits, and Latin letters are preserved inline alongside annotated characters, keeping the overall layout intact and natural.
• Four Export Options: Annotated PNG image (2× resolution), HTML ruby code with embedded styles, rich text format (paste directly into Word, Notion, Gmail), and plain text two-line format (pinyin above / characters below).
• Style Customization: Three font sizes (small, medium, large) and three pinyin colors (teal, red, black) to match your preferred textbook or brand style.

How to Use

1. Paste or type Chinese text into the input box.
2. Enable polyphonic mode if needed, then select your preferred pinyin style.
3. Click Annotate Pinyin to generate the result instantly.
4. Adjust font size and color in the preview, then export — download as PNG, copy rich text to paste into a document editor, or grab the HTML ruby code for web use.

Use Cases

• Parents & Teachers: Add pinyin to reading passages, worksheets, and study materials so young learners can practice pronunciation independently.
• Mandarin as a Foreign Language: Create annotated vocabulary cards, handouts, and lesson slides that help students connect characters to their sounds.
• Content Creators: Annotate Chinese text in articles, social posts, and video subtitles to make content accessible to a wider audience.
• Web Developers: Copy the HTML ruby markup and embed it directly in web pages for W3C-compliant pinyin annotation compatible with all modern browsers.
• Publishing & Print: Export high-resolution annotated images for children's books, picture books, and supplementary educational materials.

About Pinyin Formats

Tone mark pinyin (e.g. zhōng guó) is the standard format used in textbooks and dictionaries across mainland China. Bopomofo (注音符号, e.g. ㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ) is the phonetic system used in Taiwan. Wade-Giles is a historical romanization system still seen in older English-language references and proper nouns. This tool provides all formats in one place, so you never need to switch between sites.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How accurate is polyphonic character detection?

With polyphonic mode enabled, the tool lists every possible reading for each character. For characters whose pronunciation depends on context (e.g. 重 in 重要 vs 重量), the full list helps you identify and manually select the correct reading.

Q: Will punctuation or English letters disrupt the annotation?

No. The tool automatically distinguishes Chinese characters from non-Chinese content. Punctuation, numbers, and letters are preserved as-is in the layout; only Chinese characters receive pinyin annotation.

Q: Where can I paste the rich text output?

Any editor that accepts HTML rich text paste: Microsoft Word, WPS, Feishu Docs, DingTalk Docs, Notion, Gmail, Outlook, and more. The annotated layout renders immediately on paste.

Q: How sharp are the exported images?

Images are rendered at 2× screen resolution, making them crisp on mobile displays, in print, and in presentation slides.

Q: Is there a character limit?

Free users can convert up to 2,000 characters per session. VIP users have no limit, making the tool suitable for long articles or batch annotation tasks.