Dzs is the eighth letter, and the only
trigraph, of the
Hungarian alphabet
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. The alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the ISO b ...
. Its name is pronounced , and represents the sounds and , like in English ''jump''.
History
''Dz'' and ''dzs'' were recognized as individual letters 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 analyzed as two-letter combinations ''d+z'' and ''d+zs''.
''Dzs'', along with ''Dz', are rather uncommon letters or sequences, and is mostly used for foreign terms.
Length
In several words, it is pronounced long, e.g.
* ''menedzser, bridzs, bridzsel, maharadzsa, lodzsa, rádzsa, hodzsa, dodzsem, tádzsik, Tádzsikisztán, Kudzsiri-havasok'' (meaning "manager, bridge
ame to play bridge, maharaja, loggia, rajah, hodja, bumper cars (dodgem), Tajik, Tajikistan, Sebeş or Şureanu Mountains", respectively)
in other ones, short, e.g.
* ''tinédzser, büdzsé, Fudzsi'' (meaning "teenager, budget,
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...
", respectively)
It is short without exception:
*next to another consonant: ''lándzsa, findzsa, nindzsa, bendzsó, bandzsa, halandzsa, halandzsázik, mandzsetta, Kilimandzsáró, Azerbajdzsán, Mandzsúria'' (meaning "lance ( it, lancia), cup ( tr, fincan), ninja, banjo, cross-eyed, gibberish,
alksgibberish, cufflink (german: Manschette), Kilimanjaro, Azerbaijan, Manchuria", respectively)
*and at the beginning of the word: ''dzsóker, dzsungel, dzsem, dzsip, dzsida, dzsihád, dzsigg, dzsigoló, dzseki, dzsentri, dzsámi, dzsembori, dzsessz, dzsinn, dzsogging, dzsömper, dzsörzé, dzsunka, dzsuva, dzsúsz, dzsumbuj, dzsúdó, dzsúdzsicu'' (both are short), ''Dzsenifer, Dzsesszika, Dzsibuti, Dzsószer, Dzsingisz, Dzsungária, Dzsaváharlál, Dzsaipur'' (meaning "joker, jungle, jam, Jeep, spear, Jihad, jig, gigolo, jacket, gentry, mosque ( ar, جامع jami), jamboree, jazz, djinn, jogging, jumper, jersey, junk (Asian ship), dirt, juice, disorder, judo, ju-jitsu, Jennifer, Jessica, Djibouti, Djoser, Genghis, Dzungaria, Jawaharlal, Jaipur", respectively)
It is not usually doubled even when it is pronounced long, except when a word with this sound has an
assimilated suffix: ''bridzs + dzsel: briddzsel'' (with
the bridge game).
Usage
Usage of this letter is similar to
dž in
Slovak or
Czech. In Hungarian, even though these three characters are put together to make a different sound, they are considered one letter, and even
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s keep the letter intact. As one can see from the examples above and below, it is almost exclusively used in foreign loanwords, to represent the
voiced postalveolar affricate
The voiced palato-alveolar sibilant affricate, voiced post-alveolar affricate or voiced domed postalveolar sibilant affricate, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic ...
(''j''/''soft g'' in English).
Examples
The following are Hungarian loanwords (mostly taken from English) using the trigraph dzs:
*nindzsa = ''ninja''
*dzsem = ''jam''
*dzsip = ''jeep''
*bendzsó = ''banjo''
*dzsungel = ''jungle''
*dzsessz = ''jazz''
*lándzsa = ''spear''
See also
*
Hungarian alphabet
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. The alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the ISO b ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzs
Hungarian language
Latin-script trigraphs