Runic alphabets compared

Every rune row, when and where it was used, and which ones the generator writes.

Dates are approximate and overlap: the Rök runestone, carved in the early 800s, uses both the older and the younger runes.

The 16 Viking runes: Younger Futhark

The long-branch runes of the Viking Age. With only 16 runes for all the sounds of Old Norse, most runes stand for several sounds.

The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune of two of these, ᚼ (h) and ᛒ (b), the initials of Harald Bluetooth, the Danish king who commissioned the larger Jelling stone. The technology was named after him in 1997 because it was meant to unite devices as he united Denmark.

English letters to runes: A to Z chart

The rune the generator uses for each letter and common letter pair, in all four alphabets.

Famous runic inscriptions

Some of the best-known objects carved with runes, from the oldest to the medieval.

Rune carvers often separated words with one or two dots (᛫ ᛬) and usually wrote a doubled consonant only once. The generator offers both, so you can make an inscription look the way they did.

Terms used on this page

Rune

A letter of the alphabets used by Germanic peoples from about 150 AD until the Middle Ages.

Futhark

The runic alphabet, named after its first six runes: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ, f u th a r k.

Futhorc

The Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, named the same way after sound changes made a into o.

Runestone

A raised stone with a runic inscription, usually a memorial. Most are Swedish and from the Viking Age.

Transliteration

Writing the letters of one script in another, without translating the words.

Bind rune

Two or more runes joined into one sign, like the Bluetooth logo, which joins ᚼ and ᛒ.

Rune poem

A medieval poem with a verse for each rune; the source of most rune names and meanings.

Long-branch and short-twig

Two styles of Younger Futhark: full-length strokes, or simpler, faster-to-carve shapes.

Runology

The study of runes and runic inscriptions.