Bopomofo letter ch

It marks Mandarin’s aspirated retroflex “ch” sound in Zhuyin.

Zhuyin, also called Bopomofo, is a set of symbols used to spell Mandarin sounds. Usually ㄔ supplies the consonant at the start of a syllable. In the retroflex series, the vowel can be left unwritten, so ㄔ alone can spell a complete syllable; other syllables add a vowel symbol and a tone mark. The Chinese word’s meaning comes from the Han character chosen for that sound.

How is ㄔ different from ㄓ?

ㄔ is aspirated “ch”; ㄓ is its unaspirated counterpart.

For ㄔ, a puff of air follows the consonant; ㄓ has less of that puff. ㄕ is a retroflex “sh” sound, while ㄘ is an aspirated “ts” sound made farther forward in the mouth. The Zhuyin system was created in 1913 and released in 1918. Its symbols were formed from abbreviated Chinese characters; ㄔ is connected to 彳, a Chinese character also used as a radical. As of 2026, Pinyin carries much of Zhuyin’s pronunciation-guide role in mainland China, while Zhuyin remains central to schooling, dictionaries, and input in Taiwan.

How do you type ㄔ?

On the standard Taiwan keyboard layout, press T.

As of 2026, Microsoft Bopomofo maps ㄔ to T on its standard layout, though its key assignments can be changed. In an input method, enter the rest of the syllable and its tone, then choose the intended Chinese-character candidate.