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The Hungarian alphabet (, ) is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language.
The alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, with several added variations of letters, consisting 44 letters. Over the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet it has five letters with an acute accent, two letters with an umlaut, two letters with a double acute accent, eight letters made up of two characters, and one letter made up of three characters. In some other languages, characters with diacritical marks would be considered variations of the base letter, however in Hungarian, these characters are considered letters in their own right.
One sometimes speaks of the smaller (or basic) and greater (or extended) Hungarian alphabets, differing by the inclusion or exclusion of the letters Q, W, X, Y, which can only be found in family names, and in foreign words. (As for Y, however, it exists as part of four digraphs.)
As an auxiliary letter sometimes Ë is used in academic documents to show different pronunciation of spoken dialects, though it is not part of the alphabet. Ë in Hungarian (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in Hungarian)
| Capital letters (also called uppercase or capital letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| E | J | N | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q | Hungarian zs | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lower case (also called lowercase or small letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| e | j | n | |||||||||||||||||||
| q | zs | ||||||||||||||||||||
While vowel length count as different letters, geminate do not. Long consonants are marked by duplication: e.g. ⟨tt⟩, ⟨gg⟩, ⟨zz⟩ ( ette 'he ate' (det.obj.), függ 'it hangs', azzal 'with that'). For the di- and tri-graphs a simplification rule normally applies (but not when the compound is split at the end of a line of text due to hyphenation), only the first letter being duplicated, e.g.
An exception is made at the joining points of compound words, for example: je gygyűrű 'engagement ring' (jegy + gyűrű) rather than *jeggyűrű.
Hyphenation of individual letters ⟨Dz⟩ and ⟨dzs⟩ were changed in the 11th edition of Hungarian orthography (1984).http://real-j.mtak.hu/6065/1/MagyarNyelvor_1984.pdf p. 399 Prior to that, they were allowed to separate as two-letter combinations ⟨d⟩+⟨z⟩ and ⟨d⟩+⟨zs⟩.
| A | a | a | similar to British English h ot | Lot, got, bot might describe it better. | ||
| Á | á | á | eye | Not nearly as open as the a in American English h at, but closer to it than Hungarian a (without the accent mark) | ||
| B | b | bé | as by, a b etc. | |||
| C | c | cé | like po ts | |||
| hungarian cs | cs | csé | as check, cheek, et ching etc. | |||
| D | d | dé | deck, wi de etc. | |||
| hungarian dz | dz | dzé | like in ki ds | Uncommon. When neither post- nor preconsonantic, always realised as a Gemination. | ||
| hungarian dzs | dzs | dzsé | John, jam, bri dge | Uncommon, mostly in loanwords. when final or intervocalic, usually realised as a geminate: maharadzsa 'maharajah', bridzs 'bridge (card game)', but dzsungel 'jungle', fridzsider coll. 'refrigerator' | ||
| E | e | e | like l ess, ch eque, edge, b ed | about 40-50% of speakers also have a phoneme (see below at Ë). is not considered part of standard Hungarian, wherein takes the place of . | ||
| É | é | é | caf é | |||
| F | f | ef | find, eu phoria | |||
| G | g | gé | get, le g, go etc. | |||
| hungarian gy | gy | gyé | (not used in English; soft form of . Mostly similar to during, as pronounced in Received Pronunciation) | denoting by is a remnant of (probably) Italian scribes who tried to render the Hungarian sound. <dy> would be a more consistent notation in scope of , , ; (see there), as the part of digraphs show palatalisation in the Hungarian writing system. | ||
| H | h | há | 1. 2. 3. 4. | Basic: hi 1. be hind 2. honest 3. Lo ch, Chanukah 4. human | 1. when in intervocalic position. 2. not rendered usually when in final position méh 'bee', cseh 'Czech' 3. seldom, in final position, such as in doh 'dampness', MÉH 'metal recycling facility' 4. seldom, such as in ihlet 'inspiration' | |
| I | i | i | b in, t in | Pronounced the same as Í, only shorter | ||
| Í | í | í | l eek, l eave, s eed, s ea | Vowel length is phonemically distinctive in Hungarian: irt = 'to exterminate' and írt = 'to write (past tense)' | ||
| J | j | jé | , | you, yes, fa ith | allophones occur when occurs after a consonant; (voiceless after voiceless, voiced after voiced consonants). e.g. férj 'husband', kapj 'get! (imperative)' | |
| K | k | ká | key, kiss, wea k | |||
| L | l | el | leave, list | |||
| Hungarian ly | ly | elly, el-ipszilon | 1. 2. | pla y, pra y | Most dialects pronounce it as /j/; see yeísmo. | |
| M | m | em | mind, assu me, might | |||
| N | n | en | thi ng, lyi ng (before k, g), need, bo ne (anywhere else) | allophone before , | ||
| Hungarian ny | ny | eny | ca nyon | |||
| O | o | o | f orce, s orcerer | A shorter, more open variant of Ó. Unlike with short e, which is opened to in standard speech, short o remains , rather than opening to where it would come close to clashing with short a. | ||
| Ó | ó | ó | fr aud, c ause (Southern England, Australian or New Zealand English) | Same as except longer. It is important to pay attention to. (Minimal pair to kor = 'age' and kór = 'disease') | ||
| Ö | ö | ö | l earnt, earl, f ern | (Corresponds to (short) German Ö); similar to shwa /ə/ (e.g. col a) except with rounded lips. A shorter, more open variant of Ő | ||
| Ő | ő | ő | b ird (Broad New Zealand accent) | (A longer, more closed variant of Ö.) Minimal pair to : öt = 'five' and őt = 'him/her (Hungarian pronouns do not specify gender)' | ||
| P | p | pé | peas, a pricot, ho pe | |||
| R | r | er | The closest equivalent is r | also called apical trill as pronounced by trilling the tip of the tongue (the apex) and not the uvula. | ||
| S | s | es | share, wi sh, shout | This notation is unusual for European writing systems where usually stands for . In Hungarian, is represented by . | ||
| Hungarian sz | sz | esz | say, e stimate | |||
| T | t | té | tell, leas t, feas t | |||
| Hungarian ty | ty | tyé | tube | |||
| U | u | u | r ude | |||
| Ú | ú | ú | d o, f ool | Minimal pair to : hurok = 'loop' and húrok = 'cords' | ||
| Ü | ü | ü | (not used in English, corresponds to German Ü) | A shorter, more open variant of ű | ||
| Ű | ű | ű | (not used in English, corresponds to a longer version of the German Ü) | |||
| V | v | vé | very, e very | |||
| Z | z | zé | de sert, ro ses | |||
| Hungarian zs | zs | zsé | plea sure, lei sure, rou ge |
The letter ë is not part of the Hungarian alphabet; however, linguists use this letter to distinguish between the two kinds of short e sounds of some dialects. This letter was first used in 1770 by György Kalmár, but has never officially been part of the Hungarian alphabet, as the standard Hungarian language does not distinguish between these two sounds. However, the ë sound is pronounced differently from the e sound in 6 out of the 10 Hungarian dialects and the sound is pronounced as ö in 1 dialect. It is also used in names. Other letter for this sound is Ėė (rarely).
A more open variety of , close to , may be denoted as Ää in the Hungarian linguistics literature.
The digraph ch also exists in some words ( technika, monarchia) and is pronounced the same as h. In names, however, it is pronounced like cs as well as like h or k (as in German) (see below).
The letter Y is only used in loanwords and several digraphs (gy, ly, ny, ty), and thus in a native Hungarian word, Y never comes as the initial of a word, except in loanwords. So, for native Hungarian words, the capital Y only exists in all caps or small caps formats, such as the titles of newspapers.
| + Consonants ! Historic spelling ! Pronounced like modern spelling | |
| bb | b |
| cz | c |
| tz | c |
| z | c |
| ch | cs |
| cz | cs |
| č | cs |
| ć | cs |
| ts | cs |
| csh | cs |
| tsch | cs |
| tzsch | cs |
| chs | cs |
| cy | cs |
| ʟ | cs |
| dd | d |
| dsz | dz |
| ds | dzs |
| ff | f |
| ph | f |
| gh | g |
| dgy | ggy |
| dy | gy |
| g | gy |
| gi | gy |
| gj | gy |
| gʹ~g′ | gy |
| ǵ | gy |
| ġ | gy |
| j | gy |
| jj | j |
| l | j |
| y | j |
| ck | k |
| kh | k |
| x | ks |
| xy | ksz |
| xz | ksz |
| qu | kv |
| ll | l |
| l | ll |
| w | lv |
| j | ly |
| l | ly |
| li | ly |
| ry | ly |
| lly | ly |
| ′l(ʹl)~l′(lʹ)~ŀ | ly |
| n | ny |
| ni | ny |
| nʹ~n′ | ny |
| ń | ny |
| ṅ | ny |
| my | ny |
| ph | p |
| pp | p |
| rh | r |
| rr | r |
| ꝛ | r |
| sch | s |
| ss | s |
| ss | ssz |
| s | sz |
| sc | sz |
| sy | sz |
| z | sz |
| th | t |
| tt | t |
| ti | ty |
| tʹ~t′ | ty |
| ṫ | ty |
| ky | ty |
| u | v |
| w | v |
| s | z |
| s | zs |
| ss | zs |
| zy | zs |
| 's | zs |
| + Vowels ! Historic spelling ! Pronounced as in modern spelling | |
| a | á |
| aa | á |
| aá | á |
| áá | á |
| áh | á |
| ä | e |
| ae | e |
| ai | e |
| ay | e |
| áe | é |
| ái | é |
| áy | é |
| e | é |
| ee | é |
| eé | é |
| éh | é |
| i | í |
| ié | í |
| íh | í |
| ii | í |
| ií | í |
| å | o |
| o | ó |
| óh | ó |
| oo | ó |
| oó | ó |
| ua | ó |
| â | ö |
| åe | ö |
| åi | ö |
| åy | ö |
| eö | ö |
| ew | ö |
| oe | ö |
| oi | ö |
| oy | ö |
| eö | ő |
| eő | ő |
| ew | ő |
| ia | ő |
| ö | ő |
| őh | ő |
| öö | ő |
| öő | ő |
| óe | ő |
| ói | ő |
| óy | ő |
| üa | ő |
| u | ú |
| úh | ú |
| uó | ú |
| uu | ú |
| uú | ú |
| ue | ü |
| ui | ü |
| uy | ü |
| ü | ű |
| űh | ű |
| üő | ű |
| üü | ű |
| üű | ű |
| úe | ű |
| úi | ű |
| úy | ű |
| aë | aj |
| aï | aj |
| aÿ | aj |
| ei | aj |
| áë | áj |
| áï | áj |
| áÿ | áj |
| åë | oj |
| åï | oj |
| åÿ | oj |
| eu | oj |
| oë | oj |
| oï | oj |
| oÿ | oj |
| óë | ój |
| óï | ój |
| óÿ | ój |
| au | uj |
| uë | uj |
| uï | uj |
| uÿ | uj |
| úë | új |
| úï | új |
| úÿ | új |
| (g)y ~ gÿ | gi |
| y | ji |
| ý | jí |
| (l)y ~ lÿ | (l)i |
| (n)y ~ nÿ | (ny)i or (n)i |
| (t)y ~ tÿ | ti |
Generally, y in historic spellings of names formed with the -i affix (not to be confused with a possessive -i- of plural objects, as in szava i!) can exist after many other letters (e.g.: Tele ky, Rákó czy, Dé zsy). Here are listed only examples which can be easily misread because of such spelling.
Examples:
| Madách | Madá cs |
| Széchenyi | Szé csényi or Szé csenyi |
| Batthyány | Ba ttyá nyi |
| Gajdátsy | Gajdá csi |
| Thököly | T ököli |
| Weöres | V ör ös |
| Eötvös | Ötvös |
| Kassay | Kass ai |
| Debrődy | Debrő di |
| Karczagy | Kar ca gi |
| Vörösmarty | Vörösmar ti |
| Cházár | Csá szár |
| Czukor | Cukor |
| Balogh | Balo g |
| Vargha | Var ga |
| Paal | P ál |
| Gaál | G ál |
| Veér | V ér |
| Rédey | Réd ei |
| Soós | S ós |
| Thewrewk | Tör ök |
| Dessewffy | De zsőfi |
The abbreviated form of the conjunction és (and), which is always written today as s, was likely to be written with an apostrophe before — ’s (e.g. föld ’s nép).
In abbreviations and when writing with all capital letters, however, one capitalises the second (and third) character as well.
Thus ("The Rules of Hungarian Orthography", a book edited by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences):
The polygraphic consonant signs are treated as single letters.
| comb | |
| cukor | |
| csak | |
| ... | |
| folyik | |
| folyó | <ó> is sorted as |
| folyosó | |
| ... | |
| fő | and <ő> is sorted as <ö>, |
| födém | but <ö> comes after |
| ... |
The simplified geminates of multigraphs (see above) such as <nny>, <ssz> are collation as <ny>+<ny>, <sz>+<sz> etc., if they are double geminates, rather than co-occurrences of a single letter and a geminate.
The letter "Í" is often placed left of the space key, leaving the width of the left Shift key intact. "Ű" may be located to the left of Backspace, making that key smaller, but allowing for a larger Enter key. Ű being close to Enter often leads to it being typed instead of hitting Enter, especially when one has just switched from a keyboard that has Ű next to backspace. The German "Ä" and "ß", the Polish "Ł", and the Croatian "Đ" are also present.
The list below shows the letter frequencies for the smaller Hungarian alphabet in descending order (sample: 9620 letters).
| 12.256% |
| 9.428% |
| 7.380% |
| 6.445% |
| 6.383% |
| 5.322% |
| 4.522% |
| 4.511% |
| 4.200% |
| 4.054% |
| 3.867% |
| 3.649% |
| 2.838% |
| 2.807% |
| 2.734% |
| 2.453% |
| 2.058% |
| 2.037% |
| 1.809% |
| 1.570% |
| 1.341% |
| 1.185% |
| 0.884% |
| 0.821% |
| 0.790% |
| 0.738% |
| 0.655% |
| 0.634% |
| 0.582% |
| 0.509% |
| 0.499% |
| 0.416% |
| 0.260% |
| 0.125% |
| 0.114% |
| 0.104% |
| 0.021% |
| <0.010% |
Epigraphic evidence for the use of the Old Hungarian script in medieval Hungary dates to the 10th century.István Fodor – György Diószegi – László Legeza: Őseink nyomában. (On the scent of our ancestors) – Magyar Könyvklub-Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 1996. (Page 82) At the turn of the 11th century, with the coronation of Stephen I of Hungary, Hungary became a kingdom and the Latin alphabet was adopted as official script.
The runic script was first mentioned in the 13th century Chronicle of Simon of Kéza,Dóra Tóth-Károly Bera: Honfoglalás és őstörténet. Aquila, Budapest, 1996. where he stated that the Székelys may use the script of the Bulaqs.Bodor, György: A blakok. In: Viktor Szombathy and Gyula László (eds.), Magyarrá lett keleti népek. Budapest, 1988, pp. 56–60. Johannes Thuróczy wrote in the Chronica Hungarorum that the Székelys did not forget the Scythians letters and these are engraved on sticks by carving. Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum http://thuroczykronika.atw.hu/pdf/Thuroczy.pdf
Its usage between the 11th and 19th centuries is believed to have been limited, although it featured in folk art of the Early Modern period. The script experienced a revival in the 20th century. Beginning with Adorján Magyar in 1915, the script has been promulgated as a means for writing modern Hungarian.
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