Rune symbols and meanings: the Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest runic alphabet, carved from about the 2nd to the 8th century across Scandinavia and the Germanic world. Its name is just its first six letters read aloud, ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ (f, u, th, a, r, k), the way 'alphabet' is alpha and beta. Its 24 runes come in three rows of eight called ættir.
Each rune is both a sound and a word: ᚠ fehu 'cattle, wealth', ᚢ uruz 'aurochs', ᚦ thurisaz 'giant', ᚨ ansuz 'a god', ᚱ raidho 'riding, journey', ᚲ kaunan (a sore; 'torch' in Old English), ᚷ gebo 'gift', ᚹ wunjo 'joy'; ᚺ hagalaz 'hail', ᚾ naudiz 'need', ᛁ isa 'ice', ᛃ jera 'year, harvest', ᛇ eihwaz 'yew', ᛈ perthro (meaning unknown), ᛉ algiz 'elk', ᛊ sowilo 'sun'; ᛏ tiwaz 'the god Tyr', ᛒ berkano 'birch', ᛖ ehwaz 'horse', ᛗ mannaz 'man', ᛚ laguz 'water', ᛜ ingwaz 'the god Ing', ᛞ dagaz 'day' and ᛟ othala 'inheritance, home'.
Nobody wrote these names down in the Elder Futhark period. They are reconstructed from the later Old English, Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems, which give each rune a short verse, so treat the meanings as well-founded guesses rather than dictionary entries.
Viking runes: the Younger Futhark
The Vikings did not use the 24-rune row that most tattoos and games call 'Viking runes'. By the 8th century Scandinavians had cut it down to 16 runes, the Younger Futhark, and that is what you see on Viking Age runestones such as the Rök stone in Sweden or Harald Bluetooth's Jelling stone in Denmark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ.
With only 16 signs, one rune had to cover several sounds: ᚢ wrote u, o and w, ᛁ wrote i and e, and there was no separate rune for d, g or p. The row came in two styles, long-branch runes (ᚼ ᛅ ᛋ ᛘ) for carefully cut stones and quicker short-twig runes (ᚽ ᛆ ᛌ ᛙ) for everyday messages, which is why the grid above shows both.
Anglo-Saxon runes, medieval runes and Tolkien
In England the runes grew instead of shrinking. Old English sounds changed, so the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc split ᚨ into ᚩ os, ᚪ ac and ᚫ æsc, and added ᚣ yr, ᛠ ear and ᛡ ior; in Northumbria carvers went on to ᛢ cweorth, ᛣ calc, ᚸ gar, ᛤ cealc and ᛥ stan, about 33 runes in all. The 8th-century whalebone Franks Casket in the British Museum swaps its vowels for five puzzle runes, ᛴ ᛵ ᛶ ᛷ ᛸ.
Medieval Scandinavians solved the Younger Futhark's shortage another way: they put a dot on a rune to get a new sound, ᛂ e from ᛁ i, ᚵ g from ᚴ k, ᛑ d from ᛏ t, ᛔ p from ᛒ b. These dotted runes and the extra letters next to them (ᚡ v, ᚤ y, ᛩ q, ᛪ x) are what late runestones and church inscriptions use.
J. R. R. Tolkien wrote Modern English in Anglo-Saxon runes on Thror's map in The Hobbit, with three letters of his own for k, sh and oo. Unicode added them as ᛱ ᛲ ᛳ in version 7.0 (2014), together with the Franks Casket runes. Dwarvish runes from The Lord of the Rings (the Cirth) are a different script and are not in Unicode.
Rune symbols for protection, love and luck
Modern rune magic and divination give each rune a reading built on its old name. ᛉ algiz, drawn like a raised hand or elk antlers, is the rune most people choose for protection. ᚠ fehu stands for wealth and abundance, ᛃ jera for a good harvest and reward for patience, ᚹ wunjo for joy, ᚷ gebo for a gift and a bond between two people (often picked as the love rune), ᛊ sowilo for success, ᛏ tiwaz for courage and victory, and ᚱ raidho for safe travel.
These meanings come largely from the 20th century, above all Ralph Blum's The Book of Runes (1982), which also invented the blank 'Wyrd' rune; the Vikings left no instructions for rune casting. A bind rune is two or more runes merged into one sign, as on many amulets and tattoos. One caution for designs: ᛟ othala with added 'feet' and the doubled ᛋ sól shape were taken up by the Nazis and still appear as hate symbols, so check how a rune is drawn before you wear it.
How to copy runes and write your name in runes
Tap any rune above to copy it. Runes are ordinary text: the Runic block (U16A0 to U16F8) has been in Unicode since version 3.0 in 1999, so they paste into chats, bios, documents and design apps. In Microsoft Word, type the code and press AltX (16A0 AltX gives ᚠ). If you see empty boxes, the font lacks runes; Segoe UI Historic on Windows and the free Noto Sans Runic cover them.
Writing your name in runes is transliteration, not translation: you swap each sound for a rune. In the Elder Futhark, Erik is ᛖᚱᛁᚲ and Freya ᚠᚱᛖᛃᚨ. There are no runes for c, q, v or x, so use ᚲ for a hard c, ᚲᚹ for q, ᚹ or ᚠ for v and ᚲᛊ for x, and write th as one rune, ᚦ. Separate words with ᛫ or ᛬, as rune carvers did.
Symbols
102Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Elder Futhark, the 24 runes
The oldest row (2nd–8th century), in its three ættir of eight. On some inscriptions ᛞ and ᛟ swap places.
Younger Futhark: the Viking runes
16 runes. ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚱ ᛁ ᛚ are shared with the Elder Futhark above, and so are the long-branch ᚾ ᛏ ᛒ.
Anglo-Saxon runes (Futhorc)
The runes England added to the shared ones, then the Franks Casket's puzzle vowels and Tolkien's three.
Medieval and later runes
Dotted runes and extra letters carvers added for sounds the 16-rune row could not tell apart.
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyRune Symbols combos
15Worth knowing
- The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune: Younger Futhark ᚼ and ᛒ, the initials of the 10th-century Danish king Harald Bluetooth, laid over each other.
- Unicode gives each rune shape one code point however many rows used it, so ᚠ is officially named RUNIC LETTER FEHU FEOH FE F after its Elder, Old English and Norse names.
- The oldest complete list of the 24 Elder Futhark runes is cut on the Kylver Stone, a grave slab from Gotland dated to around AD 400.
- ᛮ ᛯ ᛰ are not letters at all: they are the 'golden numbers' 17, 18 and 19 from Scandinavian runic calendars, which used runes to count the years of the moon's 19-year cycle.
- The blank rune sold in many rune sets has no history before 1982, when Ralph Blum added it in The Book of Runes.
Questions people ask
8How do I copy and paste runes?
Tap a rune in the grid to copy it, or select runes in the text and copy as usual. Runes are normal Unicode text, so they paste anywhere that has a font with runes.
What are the rune symbols and meanings?
The 24 Elder Futhark runes are ᚠ wealth, ᚢ aurochs, ᚦ giant, ᚨ god, ᚱ journey, ᚲ torch, ᚷ gift, ᚹ joy, ᚺ hail, ᚾ need, ᛁ ice, ᛃ harvest, ᛇ yew, ᛈ unknown, ᛉ elk or protection, ᛊ sun, ᛏ Tyr, ᛒ birch, ᛖ horse, ᛗ man, ᛚ water, ᛜ Ing, ᛞ day, ᛟ home.
What runes did the Vikings use?
The Younger Futhark, 16 runes: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ. The 24-rune Elder Futhark had gone out of use before the Viking Age began.
What is the rune symbol for protection?
ᛉ algiz, the elk rune, shaped like a raised hand or antlers. Its protective reading comes from modern rune practice.
What is the rune for love?
Most people use ᚷ gebo, the gift rune, for love and partnership, or ᚹ wunjo for joy; both meanings are modern readings of the old names.
How do I write my name in runes?
Spell it by sound, one rune per sound: Erik is ᛖᚱᛁᚲ, Freya ᚠᚱᛖᛃᚨ. Use ᚲ for c and k, ᚲᚹ for q, ᚲᛊ for x and ᚦ for th.
What is the difference between Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark?
The Elder Futhark has 24 runes and was used from about the 2nd to the 8th century; the Younger Futhark cut it to 16 and was the alphabet of the Viking Age.
Why do runes show up as boxes?
The font on that device has no runes. Install a font that covers the Runic block, such as Noto Sans Runic, or on Windows use Segoe UI Historic.
