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X, or x, is the twenty-fourth and third-to-last
letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
in the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''"ex"'' (pronounced ), plural ''exes''."X", ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'', 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "ex", ''op. cit''.
X is regularly pronounced as "ks".


History

In
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, ' Χ' and ' Ψ' were among several variants of the same letter, used originally for and later, in western areas such as
Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, as a simplification of the digraph 'ΧΣ' for . In the end, more conservative eastern forms became the standard of
Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, and thus 'Χ' ''(
Chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
)'' stood for (later ; palatalized to in Modern Greek before front vowels). However, the
Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...
had taken over 'Χ' from western Greek, and it therefore stands for in Etruscan and
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. The letter 'Χ' ~ 'Ψ' for was a Greek addition to the alphabet, placed after the Semitic letters along with ''
phi Phi (; uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ; grc, ϕεῖ ''pheî'' ; Modern Greek: ''fi'' ) is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In Archaic and Classical Greek (c. 9th century BC to 4th century BC), it represented an aspirated voicele ...
'' 'Φ' for .


Pronunciation and use


English

In
English orthography English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
, is typically pronounced as the voiceless
consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
when it follows the stressed vowel (e.g. ''ox''), and the voiced consonant when it precedes the stressed vowel (e.g. ''exam''). It is also pronounced when it precedes a silent and a stressed vowel (e.g. ''exhaust''). Before , or , it can be pronounced or (e.g. ''sexual'' and ''luxury''); these result from earlier and . It also makes the sound in words ending in ''-xion'' (except for ''axion''). When ends a word, it is always (e.g. ''fax''), except in loan words such as ''faux'' (see French, below). There are very few English words that start with (the fewest of any letter). When does start a word, it is usually pronounced 'z' (e.g. ''xylophone'', ''xenophobia'', and ''xanthan''). When starting in some names or as its own representation it is pronounced 'eks', in rare recent loanwords or foreign proper names, it can also be pronounced (e.g. the obsolete Vietnamese monetary unit '' xu'') or (e.g. Chinese names starting with Xi like
Xiaomi Corporation (; ), commonly known as Xiaomi and registered as Xiaomi Inc., is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related software, home appliances, and household items. Behind Samsung, it is the second largest ma ...
or
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
). Many of the words that start with are of Greek origin, or standardized trademarks (''
Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
'') or acronyms (''XC''). In abbreviations, it can represent "trans-" (e.g. ''XMIT'' for transmit, ''XFER'' for transfer), "cross-" (e.g. ''X-ing'' for crossing, ''XREF'' for
cross-reference The term cross-reference (abbreviation: xref) can refer to either: * An instance within a document which refers to related information elsewhere in the same document. In both printed and online dictionaries cross-references are important because ...
), "Christ-" (e.g. ''Xmas'' for Christmas, ''Xian'' for Christian), the "crys-" in crystal (''XTAL''), or various words starting with "ex-" (e.g. ''XL'' for extra large, ''XOR'' for exclusive-or). X is the third least frequently used letter in English (after and ), with a frequency of about 0.15% in words.


Other languages

In Latin, stood for . In some languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention, has other pronunciations: *In Basque, represents . Additionally there is the digraph . *In Dutch, usually represents , except in the name of the island of Texel, which is pronounced ''Tessel''. This is because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all sounds have been replaced by sounds. Words with an in the Dutch language are nowadays usually
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
s. In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium,
family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
s with are not uncommon (e.g. Dierckx, Hendrickx, Koninckx, Sterckx, Vranckx). *In Norwegian, is generally pronounced , but since the 19th century, there has been a tendency to spell it out as ; it may still be retained in personal names, though it is fairly rare, and occurs mostly in foreign words and SMS language. Usage in
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
and Finnish is similar (while
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, on the other hand, makes frequent use of in native words as well as in loanwords). *In
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, generally pronounced ; in native words, however, such as ''Ochs'' or ''wachsen'', the cluster is often written . *french: at the ends of words, silent (or in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel). Three exceptions are pronounced : ''six'' ("six"), ''dix'' ("ten") and in some city names such as ''
Bruxelles Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
'' (although some people pronounce it 'ks') or '' Auxerre''; it is fully pronounced in
Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set *Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgium ...
, the name of several towns. It is pronounced in ''sixième'' and ''dixième''. Otherwise or (primarily in words beginning with ex- followed by a vowel) . *In Italian, is either pronounced , as in ''extra'', ''uxorio'', ''xilofono'', or , as ''exogamia'', when it is preceded by and followed by a vowel. In several related languages, notably Venetian, it represents the voiced sibilant . It is also used, mainly amongst the young people, as a short written form for "per", meaning "for": for example, "x sempre" ("forever"). This is because in Italian the multiplication sign (similar to ) is called "per". However, is found only in
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
s, as it is not part of the standard
Italian alphabet Italian orthography (writing) uses a variant of the Latin alphabet consisting of 21 letters to write the Italian language. This article focuses on the writing of Standard Italian, based historically on the Florentine dialect. Italian orthography ...
; in most words with , this letter may be replaced with 's' or 'ss' (with different pronunciation: ''xilofono/silofono'', ''taxi/tassì'') or, rarely, by 'cs' (with the same pronunciation: ''claxon/ clacson''). *In
Old Spanish Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
, was pronounced , as it is still currently in other
Iberian Romance languages The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languagesIberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are a ...
. Later, the sound evolved to a hard sound. In modern Spanish, due to a spelling reform, whenever is used for the sound it has been replaced with , including in words that originally had such as ''ejemplo'' or ''ejercicio'', though is still retained for some names (notably 'México', even though 'Méjico' may sometimes be used in Spain). Presently, represents the sound (word-initially), or the consonant cluster (e.g. ''oxígeno, examen''). Rarely, it can be pronounced as in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as 'Raxel' (a variant of Rachel) and ''
Uxmal Uxmal (Yucatec Maya: ''Óoxmáal'' ) is an ancient Maya city of the classical period located in present-day Mexico. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture, along with Palenque, Chichen Itza and Calakmul i ...
''. *In Galician and Leonese, is pronounced in most cases (often used in place of etymological ''g'' or ''j''). The pronunciation occurs in learned words, such as '''taxativo''' (taxing). However, Galician speakers tend to pronounce it , especially when it appears before plosives, such as in externo''' (external). *In
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, has three sounds; the most common is ; as in 'xarop' (syrup). Other sounds are: ; 'fixar' (to fix), ; 'examen'. In addition, gets voiced to before voiced consonants; 'caixmir'. Catalan also has the digraph , pronounced . *In Portuguese, has four main sounds; the most common is , as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: as in 'flexão' (flexion); , when preceded by E and followed by a consonant, as in 'contexto' ( in European Portuguese), and in a small number of other words, such as 'próximo' (close/next); and (the rarest) , which occurs in the prefix 'ex-' before a vowel, as in 'exagerado' (exaggerated). A rare fifth sound is , coexisting with and as acceptable pronunciations in ''exantema'' and in words with the Greek prefix 'hexa-'. *In Sardinian and Ligurian, X represents . *In
Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
, it represents the voiced alveolar sibilant much like in Portuguese 'exagerado', English 'xylophone' or in the French 'sixième'. Examples from medieval texts include ''raxon'' (reason), ''prexon'' (prison), ''dexerto'' (desert), ''chaxa'' or ''caxa'' (home). Nowadays, the best-known word is ''xe'' (is/are). The most notable exception to this rule is the name ''Venexia'' in which has evolved from the initial voiced sibilant to the present day voiceless sibilant. *In
Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
, represents , while the digraph represents . *In
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
, is pronounced or, in some cases, (only in loanwords such as 'televixin', and not for all speakers). *In
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
, was used prior to 19th century both in loanwords and native words and was pronounced or , e.g. ''xiążę'', ''xięstwo'' (now ''książę'', ''księstwo''). Later was replaced by and in almost all words and remained only in a few loanwords as 'xenia' (xenien), surnames as Axentowicz, Jaxa, Koxowski, Mixtacki, Rexemowski, Xiężopolski, names as Xawery, Xymena and abbreviations. Additionally, in languages for which the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
has been adapted only recently, has been used for various sounds, in some cases inspired by European usage, but in others, for consonants uncommon in Europe. For these no Latin letter stands out as an obvious choice, and since most of the various European pronunciations of can be written by other means, the letter becomes available for more unusual sounds. * represents (
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
) in e.g.
Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...
,
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
(Hawar alphabet),
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
(when Latinized),
Lojban Lojban (pronounced ) is a logical, constructed, human language created by the Logical Language Group which aims to be syntactically unambigious. It succeeds the Loglan project. The Logical Language Group (LLG) began developing Lojban in 1987. ...
,
Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
(when Latinized),
Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
is an umbrella term for different
(Jaꞑalif, Zamanälif, official romanization of 2012), Uzbek, and Uyghur (
Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
). *
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
: The
x-convention There are two conventional sets ASCII substitutions for the letters in the Esperanto alphabet that have diacritics, as well as a number of graphic work-arounds. The diacritics of Esperanto were designed with a French manual typewriter in mind, as ...
replaces , , , , , and with x-suffixes: , , , , , and . *In transliteration of Indian languages, primarily Indo-Aryan languages, represents the consonant cluster in alternate spellings of words containing 'क्ष' (kṣ), especially names such as
Laxmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
and Dixit. Less frequently, is used to represent 'ख़' . *In
Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
represents *In
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
, represents . *In
Nguni languages The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele (sometimes referred to as "Northern Ndebele"), and Swazi. The appellation "Nguni" d ...
, represents the
alveolar lateral click The lateral clicks are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are found t ...
. *In Pirahã, symbolizes the
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
. *An illustrating example of "x" as a "leftover" letter is differing usage in three different
Cushitic languages The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As ...
: **
Afar Afar may refer to: Peoples and languages *Afar language, an East Cushitic language *Afar people, an ethnic group of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia Places Horn of Africa *Afar Desert or Danakil Desert, a desert in Ethiopia *Afar Region, a region ...
:
voiced alveolar implosive The voiced alveolar implosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The IPA symbol is lowercase letter ''d'' with a rightward hook protru ...
** Oromo:
alveolar ejective The alveolar and dental ejective stops are types of consonantal sound, usually described as voiceless, that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ejectives are indicated with a "modifier le ...
** Somali:
voiceless pharyngeal fricative The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is an h-bar, , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X\. In the transc ...
*In East and Asia: **In Lao, based on romanization of Lao consonants, may represent , e.g. in Lan Xang. **In Vietnamese, is pronounced like English (at the beginning of a word, e.g. "sing"). This sound was in Middle Vietnamese, resembling the Portuguese sound , spelled . **In
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
,
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...
's official transcription system in China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, the letter represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative , for instance in ' Xi', .


Other systems

In the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
, represents a
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
.


Other uses

In
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, ''x'' is commonly used as the name for an
independent variable Dependent and independent variables are variables in mathematical modeling, statistical modeling and experimental sciences. Dependent variables receive this name because, in an experiment, their values are studied under the supposition or demand ...
or unknown value. The modern tradition of using ''x'', ''y'' and ''z'' to represent an unknown (''incognita'') was introduced by
René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
in ''
La Géométrie ''La Géométrie'' was published in 1637 as an appendix to ''Discours de la méthode'' (''Discourse on the Method''), written by René Descartes. In the ''Discourse'', he presents his method for obtaining clarity on any subject. ''La Géométrie ...
'' (1637). As a result of its use in
algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...
, X is often used to represent unknowns in other circumstances (e.g.
X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...
,
Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
, ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
'', and '' The Man from Planet X''; see also Malcolm X). On some identification documents, the letter X represents a
non-binary gender Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...
, where F means female and M means male. In the
Cartesian coordinate system A Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, measured in t ...
, ''x'' is used to refer to the horizontal axis. It is also sometimes used as a
typographic approximation A typographic approximation is a replacement of an element of the writing system (usually a glyph) with another glyph or glyphs. The replacement may be a nearly homographic character, a digraph, or a character string. An approximation is differen ...
for the multiplication sign, . In mathematical typesetting, ''x'' meaning an algebraic variable is normally in
italic type In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed tex ...
(x\!), partly to avoid confusion with the multiplication symbol. In fonts containing both ''x'' (the letter) and × (the multiplication sign), the two glyphs are dissimilar. It can be used as an abbreviation for 'between' in the context of historical dating; e.g., '1483 x 1485'. Maps and other images sometimes use an X to label a specific location, leading to the expression "X marks the spot". The
Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
X represents the number 10. The Suzhou numeral 〤 represents the number 4. In art or fashion, the use of X indicates a collaboration by two or more artists, e.g. Aaron Koblin x Takashi Kawashima. This application, which originated in Japan, now extends to other kinds of collaboration outside the art world. This usage mimics the use of a similar mark in denoting botanical hybrids, for which scientifically the multiplication × is used, but informally a lowercase "x" is also used. At the end of a letter or other correspondence, ' x' can mean a kiss; the earliest example of this usage cited by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from 1878. An
X rating An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...
denotes media such as movies that are intended for adults only.


Related characters


Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

*X with
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s: Ẍ ẍ Ẋ ẋ X̂ x̂
The palatal hook () is a type of hook diacritic formerly used in the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent palatalized consonants. It is a small, leftwards-facing hook joined to the bottom-right side of a letter, and is distinguished from ...
*
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...
-specific symbols related to X: *
Teuthonista Teuthonista is a phonetic transcription system used predominantly for the transcription of (High) German dialects. It is very similar to other Central European transcription systems from the early 20th century. The base characters are mostly bas ...
phonetic transcription-specific symbols related to X: ** ** ** ** * ˣ : Modifier letter small x is used for phonetic transcription *ₓ : Subscript small x is used in
Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...


Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

*Χ χ : Greek letter
Chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
, from which the following derive: **Х х :
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...
letter Kha ** :
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...
letter Khe, which derives from Greek Chi ** :
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
letter enguz, which derives from Greek Chi ** 𐌗 : Old Italic X, which derives from Greek Chi, and is the ancestor of modern Latin X *** : Runic letter
Gyfu Gyfu is the name for the ''g''-rune in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, meaning ‘gift’ or ‘generosity’: The corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet is 𐌲 ''g'', called ''giba''. The same rune also appears in the Elder Futhark, with a ...
, which may derive from old Italic X *Ξ ξ : Greek letter Xi, which was used in place of Chi in the Eastern (and the modern) Greek alphabets


Computing


Computing codes

: 1 In the
C programming language ''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as ...
, "x" preceded by zero (as in 0x or 0X) is used to denote hexadecimal literal values. X is commonly used as a prefix term in nouns related to the X Window System and Unix.


Other representations


See also

*
X mark An X mark (also known as an ex mark or a cross mark or simply an X or ex or a cross) is used to indicate the concept of negation (for example "no, this has not been verified", "no, that is not the correct answer" or "no, I do not agree") as well ...
*
X.com X.com was an online bank co-founded by Elon Musk, Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho in 1999 in Palo Alto, California. In 2000, X.com merged with competitor Confinity, Confinity Inc., a software company also based in Palo Alto. Musk wa ...


References


External links

* * * * {{Authority control ISO basic Latin letters Cross symbols