Wade-Giles is a system for romanizing the Chinese language, developed in the mid-19th century by Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles. It was widely used in the English-speaking world to transcribe Mandarin Chinese sounds into the Latin alphabet, making it easier for non-Chinese speakers to read and pronounce Chinese words. This system employs specific diacritics and conventions to represent tones and sounds, distinguishing it from other romanization methods like Pinyin. Although it has largely been replaced by Pinyin in modern usage, Wade-Giles remains important in historical texts and some academic contexts.