Runes are the letters of the alphabets used by Germanic and Scandinavian peoples before they adopted the Latin alphabet we use today. Each rune stood for a sound, and each also had a name that was an ordinary word, such as ice, sun or horse. Those names are where rune meanings come from.
Two alphabets, and which one the Vikings used
The older alphabet is called the Elder Futhark. It has 24 runes and was in use from roughly the second century to the eighth. This is the set you will see in most books, games and jewellery today.
By the time the Viking age began, around the year 800, Scandinavians had cut the alphabet down to just 16 runes, known as the Younger Futhark. Almost every runestone raised by a Viking is written in this shorter set. So the 24 runes below are best described as the runes of the Vikings' ancestors, and the 16 further down are the runes of the Vikings themselves.
The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark
The names here are reconstructions, worked out by scholars from three later rune poems. The meanings are the plain sense of each name.
| Rune | Name | Sound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᚠ | Fehu | f | Cattle, and so wealth |
| ᚢ | Uruz | u | Aurochs, the wild ox, and so strength |
| ᚦ | Thurisaz | th | Giant, or thorn |
| ᚨ | Ansuz | a | A god, usually taken to be Odin |
| ᚱ | Raidho | r | Riding, a journey |
| ᚲ | Kenaz | k | Torch |
| ᚷ | Gebo | g | Gift |
| ᚹ | Wunjo | w | Joy |
| ᚺ | Hagalaz | h | Hail |
| ᚾ | Nauthiz | n | Need, hardship |
| ᛁ | Isa | i | Ice |
| ᛃ | Jera | j | Year, a good harvest |
| ᛇ | Eihwaz | ei | Yew tree |
| ᛈ | Perthro | p | Uncertain, perhaps a dice cup |
| ᛉ | Algiz | z | Elk, read today as protection |
| ᛊ | Sowilo | s | Sun |
| ᛏ | Tiwaz | t | The god Tyr |
| ᛒ | Berkano | b | Birch tree |
| ᛖ | Ehwaz | e | Horse |
| ᛗ | Mannaz | m | Man, humankind |
| ᛚ | Laguz | l | Water, a lake |
| ᛜ | Ingwaz | ng | The god Ing |
| ᛞ | Dagaz | d | Day |
| ᛟ | Othala | o | Inherited land, home |
The runes are traditionally divided into three groups of eight, and the alphabet takes its name from the first six letters, f, u, th, a, r and k.
The 16 runes of the Younger Futhark
The Viking age set kept many of the old names in their Old Norse forms. In order they are fe (wealth), ur (drizzle, or iron slag), thurs (giant), oss (god), reid (riding), kaun (ulcer), hagall (hail), naud (need), is (ice), ar (a good year), sol (sun), tyr (the god Tyr), bjarkan (birch), madr (man), logr (water) and yr (yew).
With only 16 signs for a language that had far more sounds, one rune often had to do the work of several letters. The same rune was used for k and g, for example, and another for t and d, which is one reason runestones can be so hard to read.
How runes were carved
Runes are made of straight lines because they were designed to be cut into wood, bone, metal and stone with a knife or chisel. Curves and horizontal strokes are awkward to cut along the grain of a stick, so nearly every rune is built from uprights and diagonals.
Most of what survives is practical writing. Runestones usually record who raised the stone and in whose memory. Smaller finds include name tags on merchants' goods, short messages on sticks and a good deal of graffiti. Norse visitors scratched their names into a marble balustrade in the great church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and others left some thirty inscriptions inside the ancient tomb of Maeshowe on Orkney, several of them boasting.
Runes and magic
In Norse myth, Odin won knowledge of the runes by hanging on the world tree for nine nights, wounded by a spear. Poems speak of runes cut for victory, for safe childbirth and for calming the sea, and some inscriptions are clearly charms. That said, the detailed systems of rune casting and one word meanings found in modern guides were developed in the twentieth century. They draw on the old rune names but are not a Viking practice handed down intact.
Where to go next
If you are choosing a rune for its meaning, our guides to Viking symbols of strength and Viking symbols of protection look at Uruz, Tiwaz and Algiz in more detail. For names written in runes, see our lists of male and female Viking names.
Common questions
How many Viking runes are there?
The Vikings themselves used an alphabet of 16 runes called the Younger Futhark. The older alphabet with 24 runes, the Elder Futhark, is the one most people mean today, but it had fallen out of use shortly before the Viking age began.
What does futhark mean?
Futhark is simply the first six runes read out in order, f, u, th, a, r and k, in the same way that the word alphabet comes from the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta.
Did Vikings use runes for magic?
Sometimes. Old Norse poems mention runes carved for victory, healing and protection, and a few inscriptions look like charms. Most surviving runes are ordinary writing, such as memorials to the dead, marks of ownership and the odd piece of graffiti.
Where do the rune meanings come from?
From three medieval rune poems written in Old English, Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic. Each gives a short verse for every rune name. The names of the 24 older runes have been worked out by comparing those poems.
Last reviewed 12 November 2026