Initial

Also known as: 声母 (shēngmǔ).

The word initial is a term referring to the first part of a Chinese syllable (usually a consonant). It is 声母 (shēngmǔ) in Chinese. Most Mandarin Chinese syllables have an initial, but not all. If there is no initial, you might see the symbol "∅-" to signify that.

A Chinese initial cannot be a syllable or a word on its own, and it's difficult to even get recordings of "just the initial" because it's not easy to pronounce an initial clearly without adding at least part of a vowel sound after it.

List of Initials in Pinyin

1. b-
2. c-
3. ch-
4. d-
5. f-
6. g-
7. h-
8. j-
9. k-
10. l-
11. m-
12. n-
13. p-
14. q-
15. r-
16. s-
17. sh-
18. t-
19. x-
20. z-
21. zh-
22. ∅-

Sources and further Reading

• Wikipedia: Mandarin Chinese: Initials