Raidho upright
Travel and movement with a destination. The journey undertaken deliberately, and the rhythm of getting there.
Rune 5 of 24 · Freyr's Aett
ᚱ Raidho rune meaning
Raidho rune meaning: travel and movement with a destination. Its name is read as “ride, journey”; it is rune 5 of 24, in Freyr's Aett, with the sound r. Reversed: disruption, delay, or a journey with no clear purpose.
- Place in the row
- 5 of 24 Freyr's Aett, aett 1
- Sound
- r said RY-though
- Rune poems
- 3 of 3 named rad · reið
- Read as
- Ride, journey from the rune’s name
Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems, 1915.
Raidho reversed
Disruption, delay, or a journey with no clear purpose.
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Where Raidho sits in the Elder Futhark
Raidho is rune 5, the fifth of the eight in Freyr's Aett, between Ansuz and Kenaz.
Position in the row5 of 24
AettFreyr's Aett
SoundR
Literal meaningRide, journey
ElementAir
Can be reversedYes
In a reading
What Raidho usually means when you draw it
Raidho is the rune of the journey — travel, change of direction and the rhythm of moving forward. It asks whether you are on the right road.
Raidho in love
A relationship moving to a new stage, or traveling together.
Raidho at work
Relocation, business travel or a change of career path.
Advice
Plan the route, then keep a steady pace.
Primary source
What the rune poems say about Raidho
In brief, the Anglo-Saxon verse jokes that riding feels easy to someone sitting indoors, and takes real stamina for the rider on a long road.
“Rad seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads on the back of a stout horse.”
Rad byþ on recyde rinca gehwylcum
sefte ond swiþhwæt, ðamðe sitteþ on ufan
meare mægenheardum ofer milpaþas.
“Riding is said to be the worst thing for horses; Reginn forged the finest sword.”
Ræið kveða rossom væsta;
Reginn sló sværðet bæzta.
“Riding — joy of the horseman and speedy journey and toil of the steed.”
Reið er sitjandi sæla
ok snúðig ferð
ok jórs erfiði.
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 rad untranslated, so it is given here in Old English; the word covers riding and a journey, and both Scandinavian poems read it as riding. Where the three rune poems come from
Raidho in the three rune poems, side by side
The Norwegian and Icelandic poems agree on riding; the Anglo-Saxon verse is about rad, riding or a journey.
| Source | Name | The verse is about |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Futhark name (reconstructed) | Raidho | ride, journey |
| Anglo-Saxon rune poem | rad | rad, riding or a journey |
| Norwegian rune poem | reið | riding |
| Icelandic rune poem | reið | riding |
Subjects in the words of Dickins’s 1915 translation; the first row is the modern reconstructed name and reading.
Calculated
Raidho by the numbers
Raidho 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 2 of them. August is its busiest month, with 3. Its longest gap between draws, from January 10 to March 3, spans 52 days.
Position in the row
5 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
2 of 16
Can be reversed
Yes
Days in 2026:
- Jan 10
- Mar 3, 17
- Apr 13
- May 1, 15
- Jun 23
- Jul 6, 31
- Aug 7, 24, 30
- Oct 16
- Nov 4, 27 (rev.)
- Dec 5 (rev.)
Which runes can be reversed, and how the daily draw is fixed →
What happened to it
Raidho after the Elder Futhark
In the Younger Futhark
Survived as reið, riding. One of the most stable runes across all three rows.
Worth knowing
The Norwegian rune poem says riding is 'the worst thing for horses' and, in the same couplet, that Reginn forged the finest sword.
Raidho: deity, tree and element
Pronounced
RY-though
Deity
Thor
Tree
Oak
Element
Air
The poem above is a source; this table is a twentieth-century reconstruction.
How to type the Raidho rune
| Character | ᚱ |
|---|---|
| Code point | U+16B1 |
| Unicode name | RUNIC LETTER RAIDO RAD REID R |
| HTML | ᚱ or ᚱ |
The Unicode standard names it Raido, not Raidho, and its name also records Rad and Reid.
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. “Raidho Rune Meaning: Ride, Journey.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/runes/raidho/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Raidho Rune Meaning: Ride, Journey |url=https://astrohot.com/runes/raidho/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}