rune means A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons. It carries an Arena rating of 1597, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, rune ranks #2,423 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,919 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,981 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #3,209 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
rune is pronounced /ɹuːn/.
Why “rune” is a great word
A character of an ancient Germanic alphabet, carved on stone or wood and suffused with magical significance, from Old Norse rūn ("secret, mystery, runic character"), cognate with Old English rūn ("secret, mystery, counsel"), from Proto-Germanic *rūnō ("secret, mystery, rune"); further etymology is uncertain but may be connected to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to roar, to whisper" or to Celtic and Baltic cognates meaning "counsel." Unlike a letter, that functional unit of script, or a glyph, that generic carved mark, a rune is a vessel of elder power. It is the angular slash cut into a standing stone on a windswept hillside, the grain of ash-wood holding the stain of ochre and soot, the single stark mark drawn from a leather pouch in a dim hall—each stroke preserving the ancient understanding that to write was to wield power, and to read was to risk what should perhaps remain whispered only to the wind.
Etymology
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"
noun
- A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons.e.g.“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.” — 1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co., page 14:
- A letter from any visually similar script, such as Hungarian runes (the Old Hungarian script) or Turkic runes (the Old Turkic script).
- A Finnic or Scandinavian epic poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.
- A letter or mark used as a mystical or magic symbol.
- A verse or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; a spell or an incantation.
- A Unicode code point.e.g.“Go language defines the type rune as an alias for the type int32 to represent a Unicode code point. A string in Go is a sequence of runes.” — 2016, Shiju Varghese, Go Recipes, Apress, →ISBN, page 12:
verb
- To compose or perform poetry or songs.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- runic 73% match — Of, pertaining to, or written using runes. vs rune →
- runestaff 72% match — A runic letter or character. vs rune →
- runically 68% match — In a runic way. vs rune →
- runesong 68% match — A poem or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; a spell or an incantation; magical or esoteric poetry. vs rune →
- futhorc 66% match — The Runic alphabet as used to write Old English and Old Frisian. vs rune →
- runester 64% match — A person well versed in runelore; an expert at runes; a user of runes for esoteric purposes. vs rune →
- runestone 64% match — An ancient monument consisting of a typically raised stone with a runic inscription. vs rune →
- runework 64% match — The use of runes for esoteric purposes. vs rune →