Chinese to pinyin and English: three layers in one view
Switch on the English layer next to 汉字 and Pinyin, and the tool shows characters, pronunciation and an English translation together. English comes from your browser's translation feature where it is available, so it may be missing in some browsers.
Try it on your own text
Paste Chinese into the converter, or add the extension to see pinyin above characters on any page.
Characters, pinyin and English together
Reading Chinese you often need three things at once: the characters, how to say them, and what they mean. The converter keeps them as separate layers that you can switch on and off:
| Layer | Button | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Characters | 汉字 | The original Chinese text |
| Pinyin | Pinyin | Pronunciation with tone marks, tone numbers or no tones |
| English | English | An English translation of the sentence, or a short meaning for a single word |
- Open the converter and paste a Chinese sentence.
- Make sure 汉字 and Pinyin are on, then switch on English.
- If the browser asks to prepare a translation language, allow it. This is a one-time download.
- Copy Chinese + pinyin + English if you want all three layers on the clipboard.
Where the English comes from
Sentence translation uses the translation feature built into Chrome (the Translator API) and runs locally in the browser after the language model has been downloaded. For single words the tool can fall back to a built-in CC-CEDICT dictionary. What this means in practice:
- If your browser has no translation feature (for example most mobile browsers), you still get characters and pinyin, but not the English sentence.
- The tool never presents a list of dictionary meanings as the translation of a whole sentence.
- Machine translation is a convenience, not a guarantee. For anything important, ask a person or compare with another translator.
Try it on your own text
Paste Chinese into the converter, or add the extension to see pinyin above characters on any page.
Things people search for that this is not
- English to pinyin: the tool needs Chinese text as input. If you start from English, translate it to Chinese with a translator first, then paste the Chinese here.
- Pinyin to English: type or paste pinyin into the pinyin to Chinese converter to get the characters, then use the English layer.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get Chinese, pinyin and English in one copy?
Yes. Use Copy Chinese + pinyin + English.
Why is there no English in my browser?
The English sentence translation depends on a browser feature that is not available everywhere, for example on mobile Chrome. The pinyin layer works regardless.
Is the translation accurate?
It is machine translation. It is good enough to follow the meaning of simple sentences, and weaker on idioms, names and specialist text.
Can I save words with their English meaning?
Yes, saved words keep their pinyin and meaning, and you can practise them in the exercises.
Try it on your own text
Paste Chinese into the converter, or add the extension to see pinyin above characters on any page.