"runestaff" meaning in English

See runestaff in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: runestaffs [plural], runestaves [plural], runestave [alternative]
Etymology: From Middle English run-staf (attested in the plural as run-staven), from Old English rūnstæf, from Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab, from Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz. Cognate with Old High German rūnstab, rūnstafa, Danish runestav, Swedish runstav, Faroese rúnastavur. Compare English bookstaff. By surface analysis, rune + staff. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*stebʰ-}}, {{inh|en|enm|run-staf}} Middle English run-staf, {{inh|en|ang|rūnstæf}} Old English rūnstæf, {{inh|en|gmw-pro|*rūnustab}} Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab, {{inh|en|gem-pro|*rūnōstabaz}} Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz, {{cog|goh|rūnstab}} Old High German rūnstab, {{cog|da|runestav}} Danish runestav, {{cog|sv|runstav}} Swedish runstav, {{cog|fo|rúnastavur}} Faroese rúnastavur, {{cog|en|bookstaff}} English bookstaff, {{surf|+com|en|rune|staff}} By surface analysis, rune + staff Head templates: {{en-noun|s|runestaves}} runestaff (plural runestaffs or runestaves)
  1. (archaic or puristic) A runic letter or character.
    Sense id: en-runestaff-en-noun-EzyVS0HE Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*stebʰ-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "run-staf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English run-staf",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "rūnstæf"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English rūnstæf",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*rūnustab"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*rūnōstabaz"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "rūnstab"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German rūnstab",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "runestav"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish runestav",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "runstav"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish runstav",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fo",
        "2": "rúnastavur"
      },
      "expansion": "Faroese rúnastavur",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "bookstaff"
      },
      "expansion": "English bookstaff",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+com",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "rune",
        "4": "staff"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, rune + staff",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English run-staf (attested in the plural as run-staven), from Old English rūnstæf, from Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab, from Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz. Cognate with Old High German rūnstab, rūnstafa, Danish runestav, Swedish runstav, Faroese rúnastavur. Compare English bookstaff. By surface analysis, rune + staff.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "runestaffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "runestaves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "runestave",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "runestaves"
      },
      "expansion": "runestaff (plural runestaffs or runestaves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A runic letter or character."
      ],
      "id": "en-runestaff-en-noun-EzyVS0HE",
      "links": [
        [
          "runic",
          "runic"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "archaic or puristic",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic or puristic) A runic letter or character."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "runestaff"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*stebʰ-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "run-staf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English run-staf",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "rūnstæf"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English rūnstæf",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*rūnustab"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*rūnōstabaz"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "rūnstab"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German rūnstab",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "runestav"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish runestav",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "runstav"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish runstav",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fo",
        "2": "rúnastavur"
      },
      "expansion": "Faroese rúnastavur",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "bookstaff"
      },
      "expansion": "English bookstaff",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+com",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "rune",
        "4": "staff"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, rune + staff",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English run-staf (attested in the plural as run-staven), from Old English rūnstæf, from Proto-West Germanic *rūnustab, from Proto-Germanic *rūnōstabaz. Cognate with Old High German rūnstab, rūnstafa, Danish runestav, Swedish runstav, Faroese rúnastavur. Compare English bookstaff. By surface analysis, rune + staff.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "runestaffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "runestaves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "runestave",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "runestaves"
      },
      "expansion": "runestaff (plural runestaffs or runestaves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with irregular plurals",
        "English puristic terms",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old English",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *stebʰ-",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Old English",
        "English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
        "English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A runic letter or character."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "runic",
          "runic"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "archaic or puristic",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic or puristic) A runic letter or character."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "runestaff"
}

Download raw JSONL data for runestaff meaning in English (2.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.