Algiz upright
Protection and a warning heeded in time. The strongest defensive rune in the row.
Rune 15 of 24 · Heimdall's Aett
ᛉ Algiz rune meaning
Algiz rune meaning: protection and a warning heeded in time. Its name is read as “elk, protection”; it is rune 15 of 24, in Heimdall's Aett, with the sound z. Reversed: vulnerability, or protection refused.
- Place in the row
- 15 of 24 Heimdall's Aett, aett 2
- Sound
- z said AL-geez
- Rune poems
- 1 of 3 named eolh
- Read as
- Elk, protection from the rune’s name
Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems, 1915.
Algiz reversed
Vulnerability, or protection refused. A warning missed.
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Where Algiz sits in the Elder Futhark
Algiz is rune 15, the seventh of the eight in Heimdall's Aett, between Perthro and Sowilo.
Position in the row15 of 24
AettHeimdall's Aett
SoundZ
Literal meaningElk, protection
ElementAir
Can be reversedYes
In a reading
What Algiz usually means when you draw it
Algiz is protection and warning. It often appears to say that you are shielded, or that you should heed a warning sign.
Algiz in love
Protective care; also a reminder to set healthy boundaries.
Algiz at work
Caution, security and protecting your interests.
Advice
Guard what matters and trust your instincts about danger.
Primary source
What the rune poems say about Algiz
In brief, the Anglo-Saxon verse describes elk-sedge, a marsh plant growing in water whose sharp blades cut anyone who takes hold of it.
“The eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh; it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound, covering with blood every warrior who touches it.”
Eolh-secg eard hæfþ oftust on fenne
wexeð on wature, wundaþ grimme,
blode breneð beorna gehwylcne
ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ.
Bruce Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 1915) — read the original text.
Both the original texts and the translations are from Dickins’s edition. Dickins leaves eolh untranslated: it is usually read as “elk”, though the plant’s Old English name may not come from the animal at all. The Norwegian and Icelandic verses for algiz’s successor, ýr, are about the yew and are quoted on the Eihwaz page. Where the three rune poems come from
Algiz in the three rune poems, side by side
Only the Anglo-Saxon poem has a verse for Algiz, and it is about the eolh-sedge.
| Source | Name | The verse is about |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Futhark name (reconstructed) | Algiz | elk, protection |
| Anglo-Saxon rune poem | eolh | the eolh-sedge |
| Norwegian and Icelandic poems | — | no verse: the Younger Futhark dropped Algiz |
Subjects in the words of Dickins’s 1915 translation; the first row is the modern reconstructed name and reading.
Calculated
Algiz by the numbers
Algiz turns up 16 times as the rune of the day in 2026, above the even share of 15.2 — joint 10th of 24 with 5 others. It lies reversed on 3 of them. January is its busiest month, with 5. Its longest gap between draws, from April 4 to May 21, spans 47 days.
Position in the row
15 of 24
Odds of drawing it
1 in 24 · 4.17%
Rune of the day in 2026
16 times · 4.38%
Reversed on those days
3 of 16
Can be reversed
Yes
Days in 2026:
- Jan 7, 13, 18, 24, 30 (rev.)
- Feb 12, 25
- Apr 4
- May 21 (rev.)
- Jun 3 (rev.), 8
- Jul 5, 26
- Aug 27
- Sep 21
- Nov 7
Which runes can be reversed, and how the daily draw is fixed →
What happened to it
Algiz after the Elder Futhark
In the Younger Futhark
Survived upside down as ýr, writing the R sound that had grown out of its Z.
Worth knowing
One of the strangest transitions in the row: the successor took its name, yew, from another rune, eihwaz — so the Scandinavian rune poems’ verses for ýr are about a tree, not about protection.
Algiz: deity, tree and element
Pronounced
AL-geez
Deity
Heimdall and the Valkyries
Tree
Yew
Element
Air
The poem above is a source; this table is a twentieth-century reconstruction.
How to type the Algiz rune
| Character | ᛉ |
|---|---|
| Code point | U+16C9 |
| Unicode name | RUNIC LETTER ALGIZ EOLHX |
| HTML | ᛉ or ᛉ |
Besides Algiz, the official name lists Eolhx, a name the same stave carries in another row or poem.
Copy the character, or paste the code into a web page; it shows wherever a font covers the Runic block, added in Unicode 3.0.
Sources
- Bruce Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 1915)
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Algiz Rune Meaning: Elk, Protection.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/runes/algiz/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Algiz Rune Meaning: Elk, Protection |url=https://astrohot.com/runes/algiz/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}