Pinyinglish"Pinyinglish" is a word I made up to describe English words which can be written using only Chinese pinyin syllables. Chinese has a limited number of syllables they use in the language. They use characters to write the language, but to represent words in an internationally recognized manner (for example, names in the Olympics), they most commonly use the pinyin romanization system. When I first came to China I noticed in shoe stores almost all boxes were labeled "Pixie". I assumed this meant that Pixie was a big shoe manufacturer. Actually, "pixie" is just Chinese for "leather shoe". This is an example of pinyinglish. There is a big difference between strict pinyinglish and loose pinyinglish. In strict pinyinglish the pinyin must represent a true Chinese word. "Pixie", cited above, is a strict pinyinglish word, since it means "leather shoe". Loose pinyinglish words are those which can be written solely with pinyin syllables, but don't mean anything in Chinese. There are a lot of these. Examples include words like guacamole, headache, luxuriating, and megalomania. The letter combinations allowed in pinyin are the following: a ai an ang ao ba bai ban bang bao bei ben beng bi bian biao bie bin bing bo bu ca cai can cang cao ce cen ceng ci cong cou cu cuan cui cun cuo cha chai chan chang chao che chen cheng chi chong chou chu chuai chuan chuang chui chun chuo da dai dan dang dao de dei den deng di dia dian diao die ding diu dong dou du duan dui dun duo e ei en er fa fan fang fei fen feng fo fou fu ga gai gan gang gao ge gei gen geng gong gou gu gua guai guan guang gui gun guo ha hai han hang hao he hei hen heng hong hou hu hua huai huan huang hui hun huo ji jia jian jiang jiao jie jin jing jiong jiu ju juan jue jun ka kai kan kang kao ke ken keng kong kou ku kua kuai kuan kuang kui kun kuo la lai lan lang lao le lei leng li lia lian liang liao lie lin ling liu lo long lou lu luan lun luo lv lve ma mai man mang mao me mei men meng mi mian miao mie min ming miu mo mou mu na nai nan nang nao ne nei nen neng ni nian niang niao nie nin ning niu nong nou nu nuan nuo nv nve o ou pa pai pan pang pao pei pen peng pi pian piao pie pin ping po pou pu qi qia qian qiang qiao qie qin qing qiong qiu qu quan que qun ran rang rao re ren reng ri rong rou ru ruan rui run ruo sa sai san sang sao se sen seng si song sou su suan sui sun suo sha shai shan shang shao she shei shen sheng shi shou shu shua shuai shuan shuang shui shun shuo ta tai tan tang tao te teng ti tian tiao tie ting tong tou tu tuan tui tun tuo wa wai wan wang wei wen weng wo wu xi xia xian xiang xiao xie xin xing xiong xiu xu xuan xue xun ya yan yang yao ye yi yin ying yo yong you yu yuan yue yun za zai zan zang zao ze zei zen zeng zi zong zou zu zuan zui zun zuo zha zhai zhan zhang zhao zhe zhen zheng zhi zhong zhou zhu zhua zhuan zhuang zhui zhun zhuo
Many of these are never found in English ("zang"). "ΓΌ" is used in a few places, but is often represented by the letter "v", which is not otherwise used in Chinese. The single letter 'r' is sometimes added to the end of a word, especially in the Beijing dialect. |