Pinyin Annotator
Paste any Chinese text — a poem, a paragraph, a whole article — and get pinyin above every character, as a clean pinyin transcript, or inline. The whole passage is converted in context, so polyphonic characters such as 银行 (yín háng) read correctly. Copy it, print it, or listen to it — free.
Click any character in the result to open its dictionary entry.
How it works
1. Paste your text
A poem, a paragraph, a dialogue, a whole article — up to 50,000 characters. Text is annotated right in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
2. Pick a view & tone style
Above puts pinyin over each character, Pinyin only gives a clean transcript, Inline writes 汉(hàn). Tone marks, numbers or none.
3. Copy, print or listen
One click to copy the annotated text, print a clean sheet, or hear it read aloud. Click any character to open its dictionary entry.
What makes this annotator different
Context-aware, not character-by-character. Most quick annotators grade each character alone, so 银行 becomes yín xíng and 长 in 增长 gets the wrong reading. This tool reads the whole sentence first — the way a human would — and picks the right pronunciation for polyphonic characters (多音字) from the surrounding words.
Traditional characters welcome. Text like 學而時習之 is annotated directly, no conversion step. Numbers, letters, punctuation and spacing all pass through untouched, so the layout of your text is preserved.
Built for real use. Learning to read (annotate a text you're studying), teaching (print a reading sheet for class), or singing and speaking (copy the pinyin-only version). Click any character to jump to its full dictionary entry — stroke order, meanings, example words and audio.
Everything runs in your browser. The conversion happens on your device — your text is never uploaded. Audio is generated only when you press “Read aloud”. New to pinyin itself? Start with the Pinyin: Sounds & Tones guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does it handle polyphonic characters?
Yes — that is the core of this tool. The whole passage is converted in context, so 银行 reads yín háng, 行走 reads xíng zǒu, and 长 in 增长 reads zēng zhǎng. Quick annotators that work character by character get these wrong.
Does it support traditional characters?
Yes — text such as 學而時習之 is annotated directly, with no conversion step. Numbers, letters, punctuation and spacing all pass through untouched, so the layout of your text is preserved.
What do the three views mean?
Above places pinyin over each character (the classic ruby layout); Pinyin only gives a clean pinyin transcript of the whole text; Inline writes each syllable right after its character, like 汉(hàn). The tone style — marks, numbers or none — applies to all three views.
Can I copy, print or listen to the result?
All free and instant. Copy produces a plain-text version of the current view; Print makes a clean sheet of just the annotated text; Read aloud plays it with a natural voice, sentence by sentence. Click any character to open its full dictionary entry.
Is there a length limit?
You can paste up to 50,000 characters. The Above and Inline views display the first 8,000 characters for smooth scrolling — the Pinyin-only view, Copy and Read aloud still cover the full text.
How much does it cost? Is anything uploaded?
It is free and requires no account. The conversion runs entirely in your browser, so your text is never uploaded; audio is generated only when you press Read aloud.
Keep exploring
Pinyin: Sounds & Tones
All 21 initials, the finals and the four tones, each with a native-speaker anchor character and audio — the ground floor of reading Chinese.
HSK 1 Word List
500 must-know words with pinyin, audio and English meanings — the fastest way to turn the sounds you can now read into vocabulary.
Character Practice Sheets
Type any characters and print writing grids with stroke order — pair an annotated text with handwriting practice.
Chinese Dictionary
Look up all 14,000+ characters: stroke order, radicals, example words and audio — exactly what a click on any character opens.