Hanyu Pinyin was developed in the 1950s by a group led by Chinese linguists including Wang Li, Lu Zhiwei, Li Jinxi, Luo Changpei and Zhou Youguang, who based their work in part on earlier romanization systems. The word Hànyǔ ( 汉语漢語) literally means ' Han language'-meaning, the Chinese language-while pīnyīn ( 拼音) literally means 'spelled sounds'. Pinyin is also used by various input methods on computers and to categorize entries in some Chinese dictionaries. The system makes use of diacritics to indicate the four tones found in Standard Chinese, though these are often omitted in various contexts, such as when spelling Chinese names in non-Chinese texts, or when writing non-Chinese words in Chinese-language texts. It is used to teach Standard Chinese, normally written with Chinese characters, to students already familiar with the Latin alphabet.

Its use has become common when transliterating Standard Chinese mostly regardless of region, though it is less ubiquitous in Taiwan.

It is the official system used in China and Singapore, and by the United Nations. In official documents, it is referred to as the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet. Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese.

For the distinction between, / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

What word dose the alphabet spell