U+16CE "ᛎ" Runic Letter Z Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
ᛎ
U+16CE "ᛎ" Runic Letter Z is a character from the Elder Futhark runic alphabet, where it represents the sound "z" in reconstructed Proto-Germanic. It is distinct from the rune often used for "z" in later Norse contexts, as this specific glyph, sometimes called the "Algiz" or "Eihwaz" variant in older transcriptions, actually corresponds to a different phoneme and historical usage. In runic inscriptions, this letter appears primarily in early Germanic artifacts and is associated with concepts of defense or protection due to its symbolic link to the elk or yew tree, though its exact meaning varied by cultural context.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+16CE |
| Version Added | 3.0 |
| Name | Runic Letter Z |
| Block | Runic |
| General Category | Other Letter |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Left To Right |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ᛎ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ᛎ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE1 0x9B 0x8E |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x16CE |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x000016CE |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u16ce |