Tiwaz upright
Justice, courage and self-sacrifice for a principle. Tyr gave his hand to bind the wolf — the rune of a price paid knowingly.
Rune 17 of 24 · Tyr's Aett
ᛏ Tiwaz rune meaning
Tiwaz rune meaning: justice, courage and self-sacrifice for a principle. Its name is read as “Tyr, the sky god”; it is rune 17 of 24, in Tyr's Aett, with the sound t. Reversed: injustice, cowardice, or energy dissipated.
- Place in the row
- 17 of 24 Tyr's Aett, aett 3
- Sound
- t said TEE-wahz
- Rune poems
- 3 of 3 named tir · týr
- Read as
- Tyr, the sky god from the rune’s name
Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems, 1915.
Tiwaz reversed
Injustice, cowardice, or energy dissipated. A cause abandoned.
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Where Tiwaz sits in the Elder Futhark
Tiwaz is rune 17, the first of the eight in Tyr's Aett, which it opens; Berkano follows.
Position in the row17 of 24
AettTyr's Aett
SoundT
Literal meaningTyr, the sky god
ElementAir
Can be reversedYes
In a reading
What Tiwaz usually means when you draw it
Tiwaz is the rune of Tyr: justice, courage and sacrifice for a principle. It often points to a decision that requires integrity.
Tiwaz in love
Commitment and loyalty; sometimes a sacrifice made for the relationship.
Tiwaz at work
Leadership, legal matters and standing up for what is right.
Advice
Do the right thing, even if it costs you.
Primary source
What the rune poems say about Tiwaz
In brief, the Anglo-Saxon verse describes Tir as a guiding star that keeps faith and holds its course through the night without failing.
“Tir is a (guiding) star; well does it keep faith with princes; it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.”
Tir biþ tacna sum, healdeð trywa wel
wiþ æþelingas; a biþ on færylde
ofer nihta genipu, næfre swiceþ.
“Tyr is a one-handed god; often has the smith to blow.”
Týr er æinendr ása;
opt værðr smiðr blása.
“Tyr — god with one hand and leavings of the wolf and prince of temples.”
Týr er einhendr áss
ok ulfs leifar
ok hofa hilmir.
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 tir untranslated; the Anglo-Saxon verse reads it as a guiding star, while the Norwegian and Icelandic poems name the god Týr. Where the three rune poems come from
Tiwaz in the three rune poems, side by side
The Norwegian and Icelandic poems agree on Tyr, the one-handed god; the Anglo-Saxon verse is about tir, a guiding star.
| Source | Name | The verse is about |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Futhark name (reconstructed) | Tiwaz | Tyr, the sky god |
| Anglo-Saxon rune poem | tir | tir, a guiding star |
| Norwegian rune poem | týr | Tyr, the one-handed god |
| Icelandic rune poem | týr | Tyr, the god with one hand |
Subjects in the words of Dickins’s 1915 translation; the first row is the modern reconstructed name and reading.
Calculated
Tiwaz by the numbers
Tiwaz turns up 20 times as the rune of the day in 2026, above the even share of 15.2 — joint 1st of 24 with one other rune. It lies reversed on 10 of them. June is its busiest month, with 3. Its longest gap between draws, from September 17 to November 6, spans 50 days.
Position in the row
17 of 24
Odds of drawing it
1 in 24 · 4.17%
Rune of the day in 2026
20 times · 5.48%
Reversed on those days
10 of 20
Can be reversed
Yes
Days in 2026:
- Feb 18, 24
- Mar 15 (rev.), 22 (rev.)
- Apr 11 (rev.), 26 (rev.)
- May 8, 20
- Jun 2, 9 (rev.), 21
- Jul 10 (rev.)
- Aug 26 (rev.)
- Sep 3, 8 (rev.), 17
- Nov 6, 12, 25 (rev.)
- Dec 13 (rev.)
Which runes can be reversed, and how the daily draw is fixed →
What happened to it
Tiwaz after the Elder Futhark
In the Younger Futhark
Survived as týr, keeping the god's name. One of only two runes named after a specific deity.
Worth knowing
The Eddic poem Sigrdrífumál advises carving victory runes on a sword's hilt and calling on Týr twice — the root of its warrior reputation.
Tiwaz: deity, tree and element
Pronounced
TEE-wahz
Deity
Tyr
Tree
Oak
Element
Air
The poem above is a source; this table is a twentieth-century reconstruction.
How to type the Tiwaz rune
| Character | ᛏ |
|---|---|
| Code point | U+16CF |
| Unicode name | RUNIC LETTER TIWAZ TIR TYR T |
| HTML | ᛏ or ᛏ |
Besides Tiwaz, the official name lists Tir and Tyr, names the same stave carries in other rows and poems.
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. “Tiwaz Rune Meaning: Tyr, the Sky God.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/runes/tiwaz/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Tiwaz Rune Meaning: Tyr, the Sky God |url=https://astrohot.com/runes/tiwaz/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}