Upright
Breakthrough and transformation. The moment night becomes day — a change of state rather than a change of degree.
Rune 23 of 24 · Tyr's Aett
ᛞ Dagaz
Dagaz is rune 23 of the 24 in the Elder Futhark, in Tyr's Aett, and carries the sound D. It means “Day, dawn”. Upright: Breakthrough and transformation. The moment night becomes day — a change of state rather than a change of degree. Reversed: That reading exists for 17 of the 24 runes; the other 7 are symmetrical or read upright only.
Reversed
Symmetrical in most carvings; usually read upright only.
Position in the row23 of 24
AettTyr's Aett
SoundD
Literal meaningDay, dawn
ElementFire
Can be reversedNo
Dagaz is the 23th rune of the Elder Futhark and belongs to Tyr's Aett. Before it meant anything divinatory it was a letter, carrying the D sound.
Primary source
What the rune poem says
Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord; it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor, of service to all.
— Anglo-Saxon rune poem, recorded around the 8th–10th century
Where the rune poems come from and why the medieval reading is often blunter than the modern one — explained once on the main page.
Calculated
Dagaz by the numbers
Position in the row
23 of 24
Odds of drawing it
1 in 24 · 4.17%
Rune of the day in 2026
15 times · 4.11%
Can be reversed
No
Of the 24 runes, only 17 have a reversed reading — 71% of the row. Four are symmetrical and cannot be turned over at all, and 3 more are conventionally read upright only.
The rune-of-the-day figures are exact rather than estimated. Our daily draw is derived from the date, so the whole year can be computed — which a site with a random draw cannot do.
Days it falls in 2026: 6 Feb, 14 Mar, 28 Mar, 2 May, 9 May, 16 May, 17 Jun, 20 Jun
What happened to it
Dagaz after the Elder Futhark
In the Younger Futhark
Dropped from the Younger Futhark. The D sound was covered by týr.
Worth knowing
Its bowtie shape is nearly symmetrical, which is why it is usually read upright only.
Around 800 CE the 24-rune Elder Futhark contracted to the 16-rune Younger Futhark — fewer symbols for more sounds, at exactly the point the language was growing more complex. Eight runes were dropped outright. Which ones survived, and how they changed, is the closest thing to a documented history these symbols have.
Traditional associations
Pronounced
DAH-gahz
Deity
Ostara
Tree
Spruce
Element
Fire
Dagaz sits in Tyr's Aett, position 23 of the row, and carries the D sound. Its literal meaning is day, dawn — which is where every later reading of it starts.
The poem above is a source; this table is twentieth-century reconstruction.