X, or x, is the twenty-fourth and third-to-last
letter 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 ...
, 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 p ...
, '
Χ' and '
Ψ' were among several variants of the same letter, used originally for and later, in western areas such as
Arcadia, 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) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter
* Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon
* Chi (surname) (池, pinyin: ''chí ...
)'' stood for (later ; palatalized to in Modern Greek before front vowels). How