Eihwaz Rune Meaning — the Yew Tree and the ᛇ Rune Explained

Eihwaz (ᛇ) is the thirteenth rune of the Elder Futhark and it means "yew tree" — the yew, an evergreen conifer prized for its wood and unusually long life. Its exact sound value is debated among runologists, usually reconstructed as a nasal ï or a diphthong close to ei (sometimes written æ), and the rune appears in all three historical futharks: as Eihwaz in the Elder Futhark, Ýr in the Viking-Age Younger Futhark, and Eoh in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.

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What does Eihwaz mean?

The name comes from a Proto-Germanic word for the yew tree (Taxus baccata), one of the few conifers native to northern Europe that stays green through the winter. Yew wood is dense and flexible and was prized above all others for longbows, and the tree itself is extraordinarily long-lived — some specimens are thought to be well over a thousand years old — which gave it associations with endurance and protection. Nearly every part of the yew except the red aril around its seed is toxic, adding a darker edge to that endurance.

Eihwaz is also one of the rarer and more debated runes in the row. Unlike Isa's straightforward i or Uruz's u, its transliterated sound is not a simple, settled vowel — runologists reconstruct it variously as a nasalized ï, a diphthong near ei, or a sound closer to æ, and it appears far less often in surviving inscriptions than most other runes. Treat any source that states its pronunciation with total confidence as oversimplifying a genuinely open question.

Eihwaz in the three rune poems

Ýr er vetrgrønstr viða; vænt er, er brennr, at sviða.

"The yew is greenest of trees through winter; set alight, it crackles and singes." — Norwegian Rune Poem, c. 13th century

Ýr er bendr bogi ok brotgjarnt járn ok fífu fárbauti.

"The yew is a bent bow, brittle iron, and the giant of the arrow." — Icelandic Rune Poem, c. 15th century

Eoh byþ utan unsmeþe treow, heard hrusan fæst, hyrde fyres, wyrtrumun underwreþyd, wyn on eþle.

"The yew is rough-barked without, hard and rooted fast, a keeper of fire — a joy on the homestead." — Old English Rune Poem, c. 8th–9th century

All three poems describe the same tree from different angles: the Norwegian poem notes its evergreen winter foliage and the way it crackles when burned, the Icelandic poem calls it a "bent bow" and links it to arrows — yew was the premier bow-wood of the medieval world — and the Old English poem describes its rough bark and deep roots as a steady, fire-keeping presence "on the homestead." The picture is consistent across traditions: this is a rune about a real, well-known tree.

How to write Eihwaz

Eihwaz stands for a debated sound, usually reconstructed as ï or ei. Because that sound doesn't map cleanly onto modern letters, our free rune translator — which writes your name in the Elder, Younger or Anglo-Saxon rows and lets you download it as a poster — is the clearest way to see exactly where ᛇ is used. The full texts of all three rune poems, with our translations, are on the same page.

Eihwaz, endurance and the boundary of life and death

Because the yew stays green through winter while every broadleaf tree around it goes bare, and because a single yew can live for many centuries, the tree became a natural symbol of endurance and continuity across the Germanic world — yew trees are still found at old churchyards and boundary sites across Britain and Scandinavia today. Modern rune-reading traditions sometimes read Eihwaz as a "death and rebirth" or transformation rune; that's a plausible extension of the tree's real toxicity and longevity, but it isn't something the historical rune poems state outright, so treat it as a modern gloss rather than Viking-Age doctrine. You can read every rune in order in our Elder Futhark rune meanings guide, and runic inscriptions appear across our Viking jewelry collection.

Eihwaz FAQ

What does the Eihwaz rune mean?

Eihwaz (ᛇ) is the thirteenth rune of the Elder Futhark and means "yew tree." The yew was valued for its evergreen foliage, its use in longbows, and its exceptional lifespan, and the rune survives as Eoh in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and Ýr in the Younger Futhark.

How is Eihwaz pronounced?

Its sound value is genuinely debated among runologists. It is usually reconstructed as a nasalized ï or a diphthong close to ei (sometimes written æ), rather than a simple, uncontested vowel.

Why is Eihwaz associated with death and immortality?

The yew is toxic in almost every part except its red aril, yet it is also one of the longest-lived trees in Europe, sometimes surviving over a thousand years. That combination of danger and endurance gave the tree — and the rune named after it — associations with the boundary between life and death, though later divination traditions have expanded this into a broader "transformation" meaning that goes beyond the historical rune poems.