Tools to annotate Chinese text

The problem, in plain words: “I want to write Chinese (hanzi) and have the app automatically add pinyin and English translations and let me highlight characters while it highlights the matching pinyin and definitions.”

No tool in the catalog fully fits this yet.

You want a tool for studying Chinese characters where selecting hanzi automatically shows linked pinyin and English meanings via highlighting.

Updated September 2026.

Partly fits

Hanzi2Pinyinpartial · 62

It automatically adds pronunciation guides (Pinyin and Zhuyin) above Chinese characters, reducing manual typing for Anki-based character study.

Won’t cover: It’s focused on adding pinyin readings inside Anki, rather than attaching English definitions and supporting the hanzi-to-pinyin/definition highlighting you described.

Pleco Chinese Dictionarypartial · 46

It’s a Chinese dictionary app for learners, and it’s positioned for looking up characters faster using handwriting and OCR.

Won’t cover: It’s primarily a dictionary and reader setup, not an app that, based on highlighting hanzi in text, automatically highlights matching pinyin plus English definitions in the same way.

Nothing fully fits this yet

No existing tool in this list combines automatic hanzi-to-pinyin and hanzi-to-English highlighting in one study view.

Questions

Is there a tool that fully solves this?

Not fully, yet. No existing tool in this list combines automatic hanzi-to-pinyin and hanzi-to-English highlighting in one study view.

What won't these tools cover?

It’s focused on adding pinyin readings inside Anki, rather than attaching English definitions and supporting the hanzi-to-pinyin/definition highlighting you described. · It’s primarily a dictionary and reader setup, not an app that, based on highlighting hanzi in text, automatically highlights matching pinyin plus English definitions in the same way.

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