Ansuz upright
Communication, insight and messages. Words that carry weight — advice worth taking, or a truth arriving through speech.
Rune 4 of 24 · Freyr's Aett
ᚨ Ansuz rune meaning
Ansuz rune meaning: communication, insight and messages. Its name is read as “a god, Odin, the mouth”; it is rune 4 of 24, in Freyr's Aett, with the sound a. Reversed: miscommunication, deception, or advice that should not be trusted.
- Place in the row
- 4 of 24 Freyr's Aett, aett 1
- Sound
- a said AHN-sooz
- Rune poems
- 3 of 3 named os · óss
- Read as
- A god, Odin, the mouth from the rune’s name
Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems, 1915.
Ansuz reversed
Miscommunication, deception, or advice that should not be trusted.
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Where Ansuz sits in the Elder Futhark
Ansuz is rune 4, the fourth of the eight in Freyr's Aett, between Thurisaz and Raidho.
Position in the row4 of 24
AettFreyr's Aett
SoundA
Literal meaningA god, Odin, the mouth
ElementAir
Can be reversedYes
In a reading
What Ansuz usually means when you draw it
Ansuz is the rune of words, messages and insight. It often points to communication, advice from someone wiser or a moment of understanding.
Ansuz in love
An important conversation; honest words bring people closer.
Ansuz at work
Negotiation, teaching, writing and receiving useful advice.
Advice
Listen carefully and choose your words with intent.
Primary source
What the rune poems say about Ansuz
In brief, the Anglo-Saxon verse links the rune to the mouth as the origin of speech, calling it a support of wisdom and a comfort to thoughtful people.
“Os is the source of all language, a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men, a blessing and a joy to every knight.”
Os byþ ordfruma ælere spræce,
wisdomes wraþu ond witena frofur
and eorla gehwam eadnys ond tohiht.
“Estuary is the way of most journeys; but a scabbard is of swords.”
Óss er flæstra færða
fǫr; en skalpr er sværða.
“God — aged Gautr and prince of Asgard and lord of Valhalla.”
Óss er aldingautr
ok ásgarðs jǫfurr,
ok valhallar vísi.
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 os untranslated, so it is given here in Old English. The Norwegian poem reads óss as an estuary, the Icelandic as a god. Where the three rune poems come from
Ansuz in the three rune poems, side by side
The three poems read Ansuz three different ways: os, the source of all language; an estuary; and a god.
| Source | Name | The verse is about |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Futhark name (reconstructed) | Ansuz | a god, Odin, the mouth |
| Anglo-Saxon rune poem | os | os, the source of all language |
| Norwegian rune poem | óss | an estuary |
| Icelandic rune poem | óss | a god |
Subjects in the words of Dickins’s 1915 translation; the first row is the modern reconstructed name and reading.
Calculated
Ansuz by the numbers
In 2026 the date-seeded draw lands on Ansuz only 10 times, under the even share of 15.2, which puts it joint 20th of 24 with 2 others. It lies reversed on 4 of them. Its longest gap between draws, from August 21 to October 30, spans 70 days.
Position in the row
4 of 24
Odds of drawing it
1 in 24 · 4.17%
Rune of the day in 2026
10 times · 2.74%
Reversed on those days
4 of 10
Can be reversed
Yes
Days in 2026:
- Mar 6, 31
- Apr 9, 21 (rev.)
- May 10
- Jun 5 (rev.)
- Jul 20 (rev.)
- Aug 2, 21
- Oct 30 (rev.)
Which runes can be reversed, and how the daily draw is fixed →
What happened to it
Ansuz after the Elder Futhark
In the Younger Futhark
Survived as óss, but the meaning drifted from god to river mouth or estuary as Christianity spread.
Worth knowing
The Anglo-Saxon futhorc split it into three separate runes to cover changing vowel sounds.
Ansuz: deity, tree and element
Pronounced
AHN-sooz
Deity
Odin
Tree
Ash
Element
Air
The poem above is a source; this table is a twentieth-century reconstruction.
How to type the Ansuz rune
| Character | ᚨ |
|---|---|
| Code point | U+16A8 |
| Unicode name | RUNIC LETTER ANSUZ A |
| HTML | ᚨ or ᚨ |
Its official name is Ansuz alone, with no second name attached.
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. “Ansuz Rune Meaning: A God, Odin, the Mouth.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/runes/ansuz/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Ansuz Rune Meaning: A God, Odin, the Mouth |url=https://astrohot.com/runes/ansuz/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-27}}