Which fonts support Kazakh: 9 letters you need to check

When designers pick a font, they usually look for the “Cyrillic” label. That’s enough for Russian, but not for Kazakh. The Kazakh alphabet has 42 letters: the 33 Russian ones plus nine more — Ә, Ғ, Қ, Ң, Ө, Ұ, Ү, Һ and І.

Why letters go missing

The basic Cyrillic set in many fonts only covers Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Kazakh letters belong to extended Cyrillic, and plenty of foundries simply don’t draw them. The browser or app then pulls the missing glyph from another font — and in the word «Қазақстан» two letters suddenly look out of place.

How to check a font

1. Type a test phrase containing all nine letters: «Әсем қыз Ғалия көңілді, ұялшақ, үнемі һәм ілтипатты».
2. Check both uppercase and lowercase — sometimes a font only has one of them.
3. Look at every weight: the letters may be there in Regular but missing in Black.
4. Upload the file to our “Check your font” tool — it flags missing glyphs automatically.

What to do if letters are missing

Pick another font from the catalog marked “Full support”, or commission the foundry to extend it: drawing nine extra letters costs far less than swapping the typeface across an entire brand identity.