rune

Everyday

1. A letter of an old alphabet used by Vikings and other Germanic peoples, carved on wood, stone or bone. tree →
2. A mark or symbol that is believed to have magic or secret meaning, as in fantasy stories and games. tree →
3. A rune can also be a short magic chant or verse that is sung or spoken. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons, runes are the Viking alphabet (called the futhark) carved on rune stones. In fantasy books and games, runes are magical symbols. Phrases: rune stone, carved runes, ancient runes, to read the runes (UK idiom: to guess what will happen).

Examples

• The Vikings carved runes on stones. tree →
• We wrote our names in runes in history class. tree →
• The runes on the old sword glowed in the story. tree →
• Rune stones can still be seen in Sweden. tree →
• The wizard read the runes in his spell book. tree →
• Some runes look like straight lines and arrows because they were easy to carve. tree →
• Into this his wife laid one of the logs he had cut, and began swinging it, crooning the while a rune beginning tree →

Note

Countable: a rune, runes. Adjective: runic. There is no proof runes ever had real magic; old people sometimes believed they did.