rune
/ɹuːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons.
noun
A letter from any visually similar script, such as Hungarian runes (the Old Hungarian script) or Turkic runes (the Old Turkic script).
noun
A Finnic or Scandinavian epic poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.
noun
A verse or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; a spell or an incantation.
noun
Example Sentences
- "Yet they made for man those mystic swords of superhuman workmanship engraved with magic runes and dipped when red hot in blood or in a broth of poisonous herbs and twigs."
- "Runes were the letters of an ancient Germanic alphabet, ultimately derived from the Mediterranean alphabets, which was used for carving on wood or stone and which to some extent survived the introduction of writing."
- "And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts [...] and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak-tree, Alveric slew him."
- ""Finding you somewhere to live isn't going to be easy," he said. "We must cast the runes," said Catweazle. "They will tell us.""
- ""Are the, um, eldritch runes supposed to glow like that?" "Dunno. I asked the distributor about 'em and he started shaking really fast like in a Tool video.""
- "Where the daylight peeps thro' like the glint of the Moon, / And the branches are rustling a murmurous rune, / The Owls sit in council like prophets of Fate, / Discussing grave questions of Kingdom and State."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *rūnābor.? Proto-Germanic *rūnō Proto-Germanic *rūnǭ Proto-Norse ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo) Old Norse rúnbor. English rune Borrowed from Old Norse rún, which is from Proto-Germanic *rūnō (“letter, literature, secret”), which is borrowed either from Proto-Celtic *rūnā or from the same source as it; compare Dutch rune, German Rune, Raune, Danish rune and Swedish runa. Compare roun. ; Finnic epic poem ; "code point"
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: rún, *rūnō, *rūnā