[1] 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 foreign words and traditional orthography of names.

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.

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: jegygyűrű 'engagement ring' (jegy + gyűrű) rather than *jeggyűrű.

A more open variety of /ɛ/, close to [æ], may be denoted as Ää in the Hungarian linguistics literature.

Thus ("The Rules of Hungarian Orthography", a book edited by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences): While the characters with diacritical marks are considered separate letters, vowels that differ only in length are treated the same when ordering words.

Similar 'ambiguities', which can occur with compounds (which are highly common in Hungarian) are dissolved and collated by sense.

[7] Note that some letters were omitted (notably, Dz, Dzs, Gy, Í, Ly, Ny, Ty, Ú, Ű).

[10] Its usage began to decline after the Kingdom of Hungary adopted the Latin alphabet.

Epigraphic evidence for the use of the Old Hungarian script in medieval Hungary dates to the 10th century.

[13][14][15] Johannes Thuróczy wrote in the Chronica Hungarorum that the Székelys did not forget the Scythian letters and these are engraved on sticks by carving.

[16] 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.

Beginning with Adorján Magyar in 1915, the script has been promulgated as a means for writing modern Hungarian.