Online Chinese Keyboard – Type in Chinese Instantly
All Keyboards is a free online Chinese keyboard: type Pinyin – Chinese written in Latin letters – and pick the Chinese characters you want from the suggestions, right in your browser. You can also speak Mandarin and let voice typing write it for you, then copy, download, share or translate your text.
How to Use the Chinese Keyboard
- Type Pinyin. Type the sound of a word in Latin letters, without tones – for example nihao – and a list of characters appears.
- Pick the characters. Press Space or Enter for the first suggestion, a number 1–6 for another one, or Esc to keep the Latin letters.
- Tone marks. To write Pinyin with tones, hold Ctrl or Alt and press 1–4 before the vowel: ā á ǎ à. Ctrl/Alt + v types ü.
- Type by voice. Click the microphone in the text box and speak Mandarin – your words appear as Chinese characters (works in Chrome and Edge).
- Save or share your text. Use the toolbar to download, copy, print, share on WhatsApp or by email, or translate your text into English and other languages.
About the Chinese Language
Chinese (中文) is a Sinitic language of the Sino-Tibetan family, and its standard form, Mandarin (普通话), is the most spoken first language in the world. Chinese is written with characters (汉字, hànzì): each character is a syllable with a meaning, and a well-educated reader knows several thousand of them. Since the 1950s mainland China uses simplified characters; Taiwan and Hong Kong keep the traditional forms. Chinese is a tonal language – Mandarin has four tones – and Pinyin, introduced in 1958, writes its sounds in Latin letters.
- Script
- Chinese characters (汉字), simplified and traditional; Pinyin for pronunciation
- Language family
- Sinitic (Sino-Tibetan)
- Official status
- Official language of China, Taiwan and Singapore; one of the six UN languages
- Related languages
- Cantonese, Wu (Shanghainese), Min (Hokkien); distantly Tibetan and Burmese
How old is Chinese?
Chinese has one of the longest written histories in the world: the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty date from about 1200 BCE, more than 3,000 years ago, and many modern characters can be traced back to them.
How many people speak Chinese?
About 940 million people speak Mandarin as their first language and more than 1.1 billion in total; with Cantonese, Wu, Min and the other Chinese languages there are about 1.3 billion speakers.
Where is Chinese spoken?
Chinese is spoken in China and Taiwan, is an official language of Singapore, and is spoken by large communities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe.
The UN Chinese Language Day is celebrated on 20 April, linked to Cangjie, the legendary inventor of Chinese writing.
Common Chinese Phrases
A greeting and everyday phrases, to see how Chinese looks. Click a phrase to add it to the text box.
Chinese Alphabet at a Glance (Pīnyīn)
Pinyin (拼音) writes Mandarin sounds with Latin letters. Every syllable has an initial (a consonant), a final (a vowel ending) and one of four tones.
Finals 韵母 6
a o e i u ü
Written as full letters at the start of a word or on their own.
Extra signs 声调 4
ā á ǎ à
First tone – high and level. Second tone – rising, like a question. Third tone – dips down and up. Fourth tone – sharp and falling.
Initials 声母 21
- Lips
- b p m f
- Tongue tip
- d t n l
- Back of the tongue
- g k h
- Front of the tongue
- j q x
- Curled tongue
- zh ch sh r
- Flat tongue
- z c s
Every letter that is not a vowel.
Numerals 数字
〇 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九
Chinese number characters (líng, yī, èr, sān …). The digits 0–9 are used just as often.
Hear every letter and practise reading on the Chinese alphabet page.
Chinese Keyboard – Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type in Chinese?
Click the keys of the on-screen Chinese – Pinyin keyboard, or type on your own keyboard – each key types the Chinese character shown on it. Type the sound of a word in Latin letters and pick the right characters from the suggestions.
Is the online Chinese keyboard free?
Yes. The keyboard, translator, typing tutor and image to text tool are free to use, with no sign-up and nothing to install.
Do I need to install Chinese fonts?
No. The page loads a Unicode font for the Chinese characters (Hanzi) and Pinyin script, so Chinese text shows correctly in any modern browser, and the text you copy works in WhatsApp, Word and email.
How many letters does the Chinese alphabet have?
The Chinese alphabet has 21 initials, 36 finals and 4 tones. See every letter with its pronunciation on the alphabet page.
Where is Chinese spoken?
Chinese is spoken in China and Taiwan, is an official language of Singapore, and is spoken by large communities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Can I translate Chinese text?
Yes. Type your text, choose a language next to Translate and press the button – the translator opens with your text translated into English or any other supported language.
Can I type Chinese by voice?
Yes. Click the microphone in the text box and speak in Chinese – it works in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.