rune
part of speech
noun (a rune, runes)
meaning for a pupil
1) A letter of an old alphabet used by Vikings and other Germanic peoples, carved on wood, stone or bone. tree →
2) A mark or symbol that is believed to have magic or secret meaning, as in fantasy stories and games. tree →
3) A rune can also be a short magic chant or verse that is sung or spoken. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons, runes are the Viking alphabet (called the futhark) carved on rune stones. In fantasy books and games, runes are magical symbols. Phrases: rune stone, carved runes, ancient runes, to read the runes (UK idiom: to guess what will happen).
examples
- The Vikings carved runes on stones. tree →
- We wrote our names in runes in history class. tree →
- The runes on the old sword glowed in the story. tree →
- Rune stones can still be seen in Sweden. tree →
- The wizard read the runes in his spell book. tree →
- Some runes look like straight lines and arrows because they were easy to carve. tree →
- Into this his wife laid one of the logs he had cut, and began swinging it, crooning the while a rune beginning tree →
note
Countable: a rune, runes. Adjective: runic. There is no proof runes ever had real magic; old people sometimes believed they did.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «rune» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.