ZiPinYin - Chinese Pinyin Tool

Tracking since Apr 14, 2026.

Changelog

• May 6, 2026
  name

  ZiPinYin — Pinyin Tool

  ZiPinYin - Chinese Pinyin Tool

• Apr 28, 2026
  description

  Pinyin Tool is a Chinese reading assistant that works on any webpage. Select Chinese text and instantly see pinyin annotations, word-level definitions, and full-sentence English translations in a clean floating overlay — no copy-pasting into a dictionary app.
  
  How it works:
  1. Highlight any Chinese text on a webpage with your mouse or keyboard.
  2. A floating overlay appears showing pinyin above each character, with clickable words that expand to show definitions.
  3. A natural English translation of the full passage appears below.
  
  You can also right-click selected text and choose "Show Pinyin and Translation" from the context menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Shift+P.
  
  Core features:
  
  Pinyin overlay — Pinyin annotations appear above each word using the pinyin-pro library. Supports tone marks, tone numbers, or no tones. Click any word to see its contextual definition. Polyphonic characters are automatically disambiguated using surrounding context.
  
  AI-powered translations — Connect an LLM provider (OpenAI, Google Gemini, Ollama for fully local/offline use, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint) to get natural English translations and context-aware definitions. Without an LLM, the extension still provides pinyin with no API key or internet required.
  
  Text-to-speech — A speaker button on the overlay reads the selected text aloud with natural pronunciation using the Web Speech API. Toggle it on or off in settings.
  
  OCR text extraction — Click "Select text from image" in the popup, then drag a rectangle over any part of a page to extract Chinese characters from images, screenshots, embedded PDFs, or any non-selectable content. The recognized text feeds into the same pinyin and translation pipeline.
  
  Vocabulary tracking — Click "Add to Vocab" on any word definition to save it. Saved words include pinyin and contextual meaning. A floating vocab card in the popup shows recently saved words with the option to delete individual entries.
  
  Vocab Hub — A full-page study interface for browsing all saved vocabulary in a spacious layout with large characters, pinyin, and definitions. Includes a flashcard mode: pick a session size, flip cards to reveal answers, and mark right or wrong. Scores are tracked per word.
  
  Built-in EPUB reader — Open .epub files directly inside the extension and get the same pinyin overlay and translations you get on web pages. Includes table of contents navigation, reading position persistence, and a recent books list for quick re-opening.
  
  Settings:
  - Choose your LLM provider and model (or use fully offline mode with Ollama or no LLM at all)
  - Pick your pinyin style: tone marks, tone numbers, or no tones
  - Adjust overlay font size (12px to 24px)
  - Switch between light, dark, or auto theme
  - Toggle LLM mode and TTS on or off
  
  All vocabulary and settings are stored locally in your browser. No data is sent anywhere except to your chosen LLM provider when LLM mode is enabled.

  ZiPinYin is a Chinese reading assistant that works on any webpage. Click any Chinese word to see its pinyin and definition, plus a natural English translation of the surrounding sentence — in a clean popup that stays out of your way.
  
  How it works:
  1. Hover over Chinese text on a webpage and the word under your cursor highlights.
  2. Click a word and a popup opens with the chosen word's pinyin and definition on top, and the full-sentence translation and pinyin underneath. (Esc or "x" to exit)
  3. (Optional) Connect an LLM provider for natural sentence translations and context-aware definitions.
  
  Note: Popup can also be pulled via "Show Pinyin and Translation" from context menu or keyboard shortcut Alt+Shift+P.
  
  Core features:
  
  Look up any word with one click
  Hover to see where the word starts and ends, click to open the popup with the word's pinyin, definition, and a translation of the surrounding sentence. Click another word in the same sentence and the popup retargets without losing what's there.
  
  Works offline, upgrades with AI
  The built-in dictionary runs instantly with no setup needed. With AI, you get natural sentence translations plus context-aware definitions — polyphonic characters get the right reading, idioms come out as idioms instead of literal word-for-word.
  
  Pick your pinyin style
  Tone marks (hàn yǔ), tone numbers (han4 yu3), or none — your call.
  
  Hear it spoken
  A speaker button on the popup reads the highlighted sentence aloud, with the highlight following along word by word so you can keep your place.
  
  OCR for any image based word recognition. Drag a rectangle over any non-selectable Chinese characters and the recognized text drops into the same lookup popup.
  
  Build a vocabulary as you read
  Hit "+ Vocab" on any word and the pinyin and the meaning that fit that sentence are saved together. Recent saves show in the popup's "Recents" tab; the full list lives in the Library.
  
  Read Chinese books and documents in-browser
  Open files directly inside the extension and use the same click-to-lookup over them. Multiple bookmarks per book, a table of contents, and reading-position memory are all included, with a recent-files list so you can pick up where you left off.
  
  See your vocabulary at a glance
  Sort saved words by frequency, recency, or alphabet. Words group into review buckets — confident / needs improvement / not yet reviewed — so what needs work is obvious. Export to a file with all your vocab or import a backup any time.
  
  Flashcards with spaced review
  Sessions of 10, 20, 50, or all due cards. Flip a card to see pinyin, definition, and an example sentence; mark right or wrong. Wrong answers come back; familiar words drop out of rotation so you stop drilling what you already know.
  
  Settings:
  - Choose your LLM provider and model (or use fully offline)
  - Pick your pinyin style: tone marks, tone numbers, or no tones
  - Adjust overlay font size (12px to 24px)
  - Switch between auto, light, dark, or sepia theme
  - Toggle AI Translations and TTS on or off
  - Toggle "Auto-show overlay on text selection" off to silence hover/click and only invoke the popup via the right-click menu or Alt+Shift+P
  
  All vocabulary, bookmarks, and settings are stored locally in your browser. No data is sent anywhere except to your chosen LLM provider when AI Translations are enabled.

• Apr 28, 2026
  name

  Pinyin Tool — Pinyin & Translation Assistant

  ZiPinYin — Pinyin Tool

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