Anglo-Saxon runes

Futhorc ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	5th through 11th centuries
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Anglo-Frisian (Old English and Old Frisian)
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs[1] Proto-Sinaitic alphabet Phoenician alphabet Greek alphabet (Cumae variant) Old Italic alphabet? Elder Futhark Futhorc
Sister systems	Younger Futhark
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains runic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of runes.

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Anglo-Saxon runes or Anglo-Frisian runes are runes that were used by the Anglo-Saxons and Medieval Frisians (collectively called Anglo-Frisians) as an alphabet in their native writing system, recording both Old English and Old Frisian (Old English: rūna, ᚱᚢᚾᚪ, "rune"). Today, the characters are known collectively as the futhorc (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ, fuþorc) from the sound values of the first six runes. The futhorc was a development from the older co-Germanic 24-character runic alphabet, known today as Elder Futhark, expanding to 28-characters in its older form and up to 34-characters in its younger form. In contemporary Scandinavia, the Older Futhark developed into a shorter 16-character alphabet, today simply called Younger Futhark.

Use of the Anglo-Frisian runes is likely to have started in the 5th century onward and they continued to see use into the High Middle Ages. They were later accompanied and eventually overtaken by the Old English Latin alphabet introduced to Anglo-Saxon England by missionaries. Futhorc runes were no longer in common use by the eleventh century, but MS Oxford St John's College 17 indicates that fairly accurate understanding of them persisted into at least the twelfth century.