/ˈaɪ.pə/

Hungarian

Family: Uralic · Eurasia · ISO hun · Glottolog · 13,000,000 speakers
50
Consonants
15
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Hungarian — a Uralic language spoken in Eurasia . With 65 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

tsː ~ dzː ~ ts ~ dz ~ cçː ~ d̠ʒ ~ ɟʝː ~ ɟʝ ~ t̠ʃ ~ cç ~ t̠ʃː ~

approximant

w ~ j ~ jː ~

fricative

h ~ hː ~ fː ~ vː ~ f ~ v ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ m ~ mː ~ ɲ ~ ɲː ~

sibilant fricative

sː ~ zː ~ z ~ s ~ ʒ ~ ʃ ~ ʃː ~ ʒː ~

stop

t ~ d ~ dː ~ tː ~ pː ~ p ~ b ~ bː ~ ɡ ~ kː ~ k ~ ɡː ~

trill

r ~ rː ~

Vowels

ɒ ~ u ~ oː ~ øː ~ o ~ yː ~ ø ~ y ~ uː ~ iː ~ i ~ æ ~ ɛ ~ eː ~ aː ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
65
phonemes

Hungarian has 65 phonemes, placing it in the 95th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Hungarian, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Hungarian, not in English (42)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

tsː dzː dz cçː ɟʝː ɟʝ cç t̠ʃː jː hː fː vː lː nː mː ɲ ɲː sː zː ʃː ʒː t dː tː pː p bː kː k ɡː r rː u øː o yː ø y uː æ eː aː

In English, not in Hungarian (22)

English speakers learning Hungarian won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ ŋ e ʊ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Hungarian →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Finnish 53%
Compare →
Tigrinya 46%
Compare →
Amharic 45%
Compare →
Chamorro 44%
Compare →
fulfulde (NGA) 40%
Compare →

Compare Hungarian with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao