<p>Not in standard Mandarin, no.</p>

<p>But there are regions in the South where Mandarin phonetics are not rendered standardly, and Standard <em>hu-</em> (also sometimes <em>ku-</em>) tends to be pronounced <em>f-</em>. In Western Fújiàn I often heard <em>huàidàn</em> 壞蛋 'bad person, asshole, etc.' pronounced as though the Pinyin were <em>fàitàn</em>. But I wouldn't count on using that to write "WiFi".</p>

<p>An example of regional <em>f-</em> for Mandarin <em>k-</em> appears in New York's Chinatown, where Forsyth Street is translated <em>Kēxījiē</em> 科西街, because the community was completely Cantonese-speaking at one time. You can see it on the street signs.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-31T15:20:49.830Z
2015-10-31T15:20:49.830Z
brannerchinese
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Chinese_phonology#From_Late_Middle_Chinese_to_Standard_Mandarin" rel="nofollow">This wikipdia article</a>, the consonant /f/ didn't appear until late middle Chinese, when it evolved from bilabial stops when followed by a glide /j/ or /w/. However, /ai/ has no glide so /fai/ couldn't possibly ever be evolved.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-09T12:00:45.780Z
are you saying that, likewise, since /an/ has no glide, /fan/ couldn't possibly ever have evolved?
flow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-01T22:40:46.280Z
2015-11-01T22:40:46.280Z
Fan Zheng
<p>fai is not a pronunciation in mandarin, in fact we just read wifi as the English pronunciation, which is similar to wai-fai</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-02T03:15:46.020Z
2015-11-02T03:15:46.020Z
gcd0318
<p>Short answer is no. To say WiFi, you would say 無線上網 (wireless internet access).</p>

<p>Otherwise, there's no "Fai" sound in Mandarin. They have it in Cantonese though.</p>

<p>快 = kuai (mandarin) / fai (cantonese) = fast</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-31T11:45:21.630Z
2015-10-31T11:45:21.630Z
BMak
<p>Chinese seem to have no problem pronouncing <code>Wi-Fi</code>. Wi has a similar Chinese pronunciation with pinyin: <code>wai</code>.</p>

<p>This got me wondering, is there any “fai” (zy: ㄈㄞ) pronunciation record in Mandarin?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-31T08:31:19.303Z
AFAIK, no. Maybe some day the experts will put it in the "西文字母开头的词语" list of 现代汉语词典.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-02T00:50:15.917Z
This doesn't answer your question, but some of the native speakers in Taiwan can give good approximation of the proper pronunciation by using 注音. When I was in elementary school, teachers would use 注音 to help us learn the English pronunciation. However, you can see how this method fall short in some of the cases where there is no such approximation, such as the trilled r. So Fi in Wi-Fi is easily pronounced by imitating ㄈㄞˋ
RexYuan
<pronunciation>
Any “fai” (zy: ㄈㄞ) pronunciation record in Mandarin?
# Any “fai” (zy: ㄈㄞ) pronunciation record in Mandarin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-31)

Chinese seem to have no problem pronouncing `Wi-Fi`. Wi has a similar Chinese pronunciation with pinyin: `wai`.

This got me wondering, is there any “fai” (zy: ㄈㄞ) pronunciation record in Mandarin?

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: AFAIK, no. Maybe some day the experts will put it in the "西文字母开头的词语" list of 现代汉语词典.  
> **username_2**: This doesn't answer your question, but some of the native speakers in Taiwan can give good approximation of the proper pronunciation by using 注音. When I was in elementary school, teachers would use 注音 to help us learn the English pronunciation. However, you can see how this method fall short in some of the cases where there is no such approximation, such as the trilled r. So Fi in Wi-Fi is easily pronounced by imitating ㄈㄞˋ  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-10-31. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Not in standard Mandarin, no.

But there are regions in the South where Mandarin phonetics are not rendered standardly, and username_1dard *hu-* (also sometimes *ku-*) tends to be pronounced *f-*. In Western Fújiàn I often heard *huàidàn* 壞蛋 'bad person, asshole, etc.' pronounced as though the Pinyin were *fàitàn*. But I wouldn't count on using that to write "WiFi".

An example of regional *f-* for Mandarin *k-* appears in New York's Chinatown, where Forsyth Street is translated *Kēxījiē* 科西街, because the community was completely Cantonese-speaking at one time. You can see it on the street signs.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2015-11-01. Score: 0

According to [This wikipdia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Chinese_phonology#From_Late_Middle_Chinese_to_username_1dard_Mandarin), the consonant /f/ didn't appear until late middle Chinese, when it evolved from bilabial stops when followed by a glide /j/ or /w/. However, /ai/ has no glide so /fai/ couldn't possibly ever be evolved.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: are you saying that, likewise, since /an/ has no glide, /fan/ couldn't possibly ever have evolved?  

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### Answer by username_6 on 2015-11-02. Score: 0

fai is not a pronunciation in mandarin, in fact we just read wifi as the English pronunciation, which is similar to wai-fai


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### Answer by username_7 on 2015-10-31. Score: -1

Short answer is no. To say WiFi, you would say 無線上網 (wireless internet access).

Otherwise, there's no "Fai" sound in Mandarin. They have it in Cantonese though.

快 = kuai (mandarin) / fai (cantonese) = fast


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