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X

X, or x, is the twenty-fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ex (pronounced /ˈɛks/), plural exes.[2]

X
X x
Usage
Writing systemLatin script
TypeAlphabetic and Logographic
Language of originLatin language
Greek language
Phonetic usage[x]
[χ]
[ħ]
[]
[ks]
[ʃ]
[ɕ]
[]
[ʒ]
[ɖ]
[ʔ]
[ǁ]
[gʒ][1]
[kʃ]
[d͡z]
[d͡ʒ]
[t͡s]
[t͡ʃ]
[]
[z]
[gz]
[]
/ɛks/
Unicode codepointU+0058, U+0078
Alphabetical position24
History
Development
Time period~-700 to present
Descendants • ×
 • ⨘
 •
 •
 •
 •
 •
 •
SistersХ
𐍇

Other
Other letters commonly used withx(x)
Writing directionLeft-to-Right
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.

History

Western Greek
Chi
Etruscan
X
Latin
X
     

The letter ⟨X⟩, representing /ks/, was inherited from the Etruscan alphabet. It perhaps originated in the ⟨Χ⟩ of the Euboean alphabet or another Western Greek alphabet, which also represented /ks/. Its relationship with the ⟨Χ⟩ of the Eastern Greek alphabets, which represented /kʰ/, is uncertain.

The pronunciation of /ks/ in the Romance languages underwent sound changes, with various outcomes:

  • French: /js/ (e.g. laisser from laxare)
  • Italian: /ss/ (e.g. asse from axem) and, in some cases, /ʃʃ/ (e.g. lasciare from laxare)
  • Portuguese: /jʃ/ (e.g. eixo from axem)
  • Romanian: /ps/ (e.g. coapsă from coxa) and /s/ (e.g. lăsa from laxare)
  • Old Spanish: /ʃ/

In Old Spanish, ⟨x⟩ thus came to represent /ʃ/, which it still represents in most Iberian languages and in the orthographies of other languages influenced by Spanish, such as Nahuatl. In French (with a few exceptions), Italian, Romanian, and modern Spanish, ⟨x⟩ was replaced by other letters.

The use of ⟨x⟩ to represent /ks/ was reintroduced to the Romance languages via Latin loanwords. In many words this /ks/ was voiced to /gz/.

Use in writing systems

Pronunciation summary
Languages in italics are not usually written using the Latin alphabet
Language Dialect(s) Pronunciation (IPA) Environment Notes
Asturian Some central dialects /ʃ/ Before ⟨i⟩ and usually ⟨u⟩
/sj/ ~ /ʃj/
Standard and other dialects /ʃ/
Afar /ɖ/
Albanian /dz/ ⟨xh⟩ represents //
Azeri /x/
Basque /ʃ/ ⟨tx⟩ represents //
Catalan /ʃ/ Usually (word-initially, after consonants, i, au, eu, in some surnames such as Rexach)
/gz/
/ks/
Mandarin Chinese Standard /ɕ/ Pinyin romanization
Cou /ɨ/ ~ /ʉ/ Possibly the only case in the world of ⟨x⟩ used as a vowel.
Dutch /ks/ Usually Mainly used in loanwords
/s/ In Texel
English /ks/ Usually; before an unstressed vowel Yod-coalescence leads to /kʃ/
/gz/ Before a stressed vowel Yod-coalescence leads to /gʒ/
/z/ Word-initially
/h/ Don Quixote, Oaxaca, words derived from Classical Nahuatl/Nahuatl
Esperanto in digraphs only as a substitute for a diacritic cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux are used as substitutes for ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ where these characters are not available. See X-convention
French /ks/ Usually; in Aix- (prefix or name of several places)
/gz/ Mainly in the prefix ex- followed by a vowel; sometimes word-initially
Silent Word-finally with no liaison
/z/ Word-finally with liaison; in sixième (6th) and dixième (10th)
/s/ In six (6), dix (10), Auxerre, and Bruxelles (Brussels)
Galician /ʃ/ Usually
/(k)s/ Some words In learned loanwords
German /ks/ Mainly used in loanwords
Indonesian /s/ In the beginning of a word Mainly used in loanwords for science
/ks/ In the middle or the end of a word, although words borrowed with the letter x in the middle or the end of a word are always replaced by the letters 'ks'. For example, the word 'maximum' and 'climax' in Indonesian would be 'maksimal' and 'klimaks'. Letter x on the middle or the end of a word only occurs in names.
Italian /ks/ Mainly used in learned loanwords
Kurdish /x/
Lao /ɕ/ Romanization
Leonese /ʃ/
Ligurian /ʒ/
Maltese /ʃ/
Mayan /ʃ/ Modern Romanization
Nahuatl /ʃ/
Nguni /ǁ/
Norwegian /ks/ Archaic
Occitan /t͡s/ Usually
/s/ Before consonants
/ɡz/ In the prefix ex- before vowels In the Provençal, Limousin, Auvergnat, Vivaro-Alpine, and Niçard dialects
/ɡʒ/ Before ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ In the Auvergnat dialect
Oromo //
Pirahã /ʔ/
Polish /ks ~ gz/
Portuguese /ʃ/ Usually, especially word-initially; in words derived from Tupi
/ks/ Some words Mainly in learned loanwords
/s/ When preceded by ⟨e⟩ and a consonant; some words
/z/ In the prefix ex- ("ex-") before a vowel
/gz/ In the prefix hexa- ("hexa-")
Sardinian /ʒ/
Sicilian /ʃ/ Old Sicilian words and names E.g. Craxi, Joppolo Giancaxio
/k(ə)s(ə)/ Loanwords
Somali /ħ/
Spanish /(k)s/ Usually
/s/ Word-initially
/ʃ/ In some names and words
/t͡ʃ/
/x/
Swedish /ks/
Uzbek /χ/
Venetian /z/ Usually
/s/ In Venexia "Venice"
Vietnamese /s/

English

In English orthography, ⟨x⟩ is typically pronounced as the voiceless consonant cluster /ks/ when it follows the stressed vowel (e.g. ox), and the voiced consonant /ɡz/ when it precedes the stressed vowel (e.g. exam). It is also pronounced /ɡz/ when it precedes a silent ⟨h⟩ and a stressed vowel (e.g. exhaust).[3]

Due to yod-coalescence, the sequence ⟨xi⟩ before a vowel can be pronounced /kʃ/ resulting from earlier /ksj/, e.g. in -xion(-), -xious(-). Similarly, the sequence ⟨xu⟩ can be pronounced with /kʃ/ (e.g. flexure, sexual) or /ɡʒ/ (in luxury and its derivatives)

Due to NG-coalescence, the sequence ⟨nx⟩ can be pronounced /ŋz/ in anxiety.

When ⟨x⟩ ends a word, it is always /ks/ (e.g. fax), except in loan words such as faux (see French, below).

There are very few English words that start with ⟨x⟩ (the fewest of any letter). When ⟨x⟩ does start a word, it is usually pronounced 'z' (e.g. xylophone, 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 /s/ (e.g. the obsolete Vietnamese monetary unit xu) or /ʃ/ (e.g. Chinese names starting with Xi like Xiaomi or Xinjiang). Many of the words that start with ⟨x⟩ are of Greek origin, or standardized trademarks (Xerox) 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), "Christ-" (e.g. Xmas for Christmas, Xian for Christian), the "crys-" in crystal (XTAL), "by" (SXSW for South by Southwest) or various words starting with "ex-" (e.g. XL for extra large, XOR for exclusive-or, or the extinction symbol).

X is the third least frequently used letter in English (after ⟨q⟩ and ⟨z⟩), with a frequency of about 0.15% in words.[4]

Other languages

In Latin, ⟨x⟩ stood for [ks]. In some languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention, ⟨x⟩ has other pronunciations:

  • In Basque, ⟨x⟩ represents [ʃ]. Additionally there is the digraph ⟨tx⟩ [tʃ].
  • In Dutch, ⟨x⟩ usually represents [ks], except in the name of the island of Texel, which is pronounced Tessel. This is because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all /ks/ sounds have been replaced by /s/ sounds. Words with an ⟨x⟩ in the Dutch language are nowadays usually loanwords. In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, family names with ⟨x⟩ are not uncommon (e.g. Dierckx, Hendrickx, Koninckx, Sterckx, Vranckx).
  • In Norwegian, ⟨x⟩ is generally pronounced [ks], but since the 19th century, there has been a tendency to spell it out as ⟨ks⟩; 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 and Finnish is similar (while Swedish, on the other hand, makes frequent use of ⟨x⟩ in native words as well as in loanwords).
  • In German, generally pronounced [ks]; in native words, however, such as Ochs or wachsen, the cluster [ks] is often written ⟨chs⟩.
  • French: at the ends of words, silent (or [z] in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel). Three exceptions are pronounced [s]: six ("six"), dix ("ten") and in some city names such as Bruxelles (although some people pronounce it 'ks') or Auxerre; it is fully pronounced [ks] in Aix, the name of several towns. It is pronounced [z] in sixième and dixième. Otherwise [ks] or (primarily in words beginning with ex- followed by a vowel) [ɡz].
  • In Italian, ⟨x⟩ is either pronounced [ks], as in extra, uxorio, xilofono,[5] or [ɡz], as exogamia, when it is preceded by ⟨e⟩ and followed by a vowel. In several related languages, notably Venetian, it represents the voiced sibilant [z]. 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 ⟨x⟩) is called "per". However, ⟨x⟩ is found only in loanwords, as it is not part of the standard Italian alphabet; in most words with ⟨x⟩, 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, ⟨x⟩ was pronounced [ʃ], as it is still currently in other Iberian Romance languages. Later, the sound evolved to a hard [x] sound. In modern Spanish, due to a spelling reform, whenever ⟨x⟩ is used for the [x] sound it has been replaced with ⟨j⟩, including in words that originally had ⟨x⟩ such as ejemplo or ejercicio, though ⟨x⟩ is still retained for some names (notably 'México', even though 'Méjico' may sometimes be used in Spain). Presently, ⟨x⟩ represents the sound [s] (word-initially), or the consonant cluster [ks] (e.g. oxígeno, examen). Rarely, it can be pronounced [ʃ] as in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as 'Raxel' (a variant of Rachel) and Uxmal.
  • In Galician and Leonese, ⟨x⟩ is pronounced [ʃ] in most cases (often used in place of etymological g or j). The pronunciation [ks] occurs in learned words, such as 'taxativo' (taxing). However, Galician speakers tend to pronounce it [s], especially when it appears before plosives, such as in 'externo' (external).
  • In Catalan, ⟨x⟩ has three sounds; the most common is [ʃ]; as in 'xarop' (syrup). Other sounds are: [ks]; 'fixar' (to fix), [ɡz]; 'examen'. In addition, [ʃ] gets voiced to [ʒ] before voiced consonants; 'caixmir'. Catalan also has the digraph ⟨tx⟩, pronounced [tʃ].
  • In Portuguese, ⟨x⟩ has four main sounds; the most common is [ʃ], as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: [ks] as in 'flexão' (flexion); [s], when preceded by E and followed by a consonant, as in 'contexto' ([ʃ] in European Portuguese), and in a small number of other words, such as 'próximo' (close/next); and (the rarest) [z], which occurs in the prefix 'ex-' before a vowel, as in 'exagerado' (exaggerated). A rare fifth sound is [ɡz], coexisting with [z] and [ks] as acceptable pronunciations in exantema and in words with the Greek prefix 'hexa-'.
  • In Sardinian and Ligurian, X represents [ʒ].
  • In Venetian, it represents the voiced alveolar sibilant [z] 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 [veˈnɛsja] in which ⟨x⟩ has evolved from the initial voiced sibilant [z] to the present day voiceless sibilant.
  • In Albanian, ⟨x⟩ represents [dz], while the digraph ⟨xh⟩ represents [dʒ].
  • In Maltese, ⟨x⟩ is pronounced [ʃ] or, in some cases, [ʒ] (only in loanwords such as 'televixin', and not for all speakers).
  • In Polish, ⟨x⟩ was used prior to 19th century both in loanwords and native words and was pronounced [ks] or [ɡz], e.g. xiążę, xięstwo (now książę, księstwo). Later was replaced by ⟨ks⟩ and ⟨gz⟩ 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 has been adapted only recently, ⟨x⟩ 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 ⟨x⟩ can be written by other means, the letter becomes available for more unusual sounds.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, x represents a voiceless velar fricative.

Other uses

  • The Roman numeral X represents the number 10.[6][7]
  • In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The modern tradition of using x, y and z to represent an unknown (incognita) was introduced by René Descartes in La Géométrie (1637).[8] As a result of its use in algebra, X is often used to represent unknowns in other circumstances (e.g. X-rays, Generation X, The X-Files, and The Man from Planet X; see also Malcolm X).
  • On some identification documents, the letter X represents a non-binary gender, where F means female and M means male.[9][10]
  • In the Cartesian coordinate system, x is used to refer to the horizontal axis.
  • It is also sometimes used as a typographic approximation for the multiplication sign, ×. In mathematical typesetting, x meaning an algebraic variable is normally in italic type ( ), 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".[11]
  • 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.[12] 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;[13] the earliest example of this usage cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1878.[14]
  • An X rating denotes media such as movies that are intended for adults only.
  • In the Korean language, a series of Xs is used as a visual bleep censor for subtitles and captions, serving the same role as an asterisk (*).[15][16]
  • In the C programming language, "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.[2]

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

  • X with diacritics: Ẍ ẍ Ẋ ẋ X̂ x̂ [17]
  • IPA-specific symbols related to X: χ
  • Teuthonista phonetic transcription-specific symbols related to X:[18]
    • U+AB56 LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LOW RIGHT RING
    • U+AB57 LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG
    • U+AB58 LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG AND LOW RIGHT RING
    • U+AB59 LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG WITH SERIF
  • ˣ : Modifier letter small x is used for phonetic transcription
  • ₓ : Subscript small x is used in Indo-European studies[19]

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

  • Χ χ : Greek letter Chi, from which the following derive:
    • Ꭓ ꭓ : Latin chi
    • Х х : Cyrillic letter Kha
    • Ⲭ ⲭ : Coptic letter Khe, which derives from Greek Chi
    • 𐍇 : Gothic 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, 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

Other representations

Computing

Character information
Preview X x
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X LATIN SMALL LETTER X FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER X
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 88 U+0058 120 U+0078 65336 U+FF38 65368 U+FF58
UTF-8 88 58 120 78 239 188 184 EF BC B8 239 189 152 EF BD 98
Numeric character reference X X x x X X x x
EBCDIC family 231 E7 167 A7
ASCII 1 88 58 120 78
1 Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

Other

See also

References

  1. ^ as in the English word luxurious
  2. ^ a b "X", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "ex", op. cit.
  3. ^ Venezky, Richard (1 January 1970). The Structure of English Orthography. The Hague: Walter de Gruyter. p. 40. ISBN 978-3-11-080447-8. from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  4. ^ Mička, Pavel. "Letter frequency (English)". Algoritmy.net. from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Dizionario di ortografia e pronunzia" [Dictionary of Spelling and Pronunciation]. Dizionario di ortografia e pronunzia (in Italian). from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  6. ^ Gordon, Arthur E. (1983). Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy. University of California Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780520038981. Retrieved 3 October 2015. roman numerals.
  7. ^ King, David A. (2001). The Ciphers of the Monks. Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 282. ISBN 9783515076401. from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2020-11-22. In the course of time, I, V and X became identical with three letters of the alphabet; originally, however, they bore no relation to these letters.
  8. ^ Cajori, Florian (1928). A History of Mathematical Notations. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. p. 381. ISBN 9780486161167. from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2020-11-22. See History of algebra.
  9. ^ Holme, Ingrid (2008). "Hearing People's Own Stories". Science as Culture. 17 (3): 341–344. doi:10.1080/09505430802280784. S2CID 143528047.
  10. ^ "New Zealand Passports - Information about Changing Sex / Gender Identity". from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  11. ^ "X marks the spot". from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  12. ^ "X: Mark of Collaboration - Issue No. 0053X - Arkitip, Inc". arkitip.com. from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  13. ^ Epstein, Nadine (2020-10-07). "A whole lot of history behind 'x' and 'o', kiss and hug". The Washington Post. from the original on 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  14. ^ "X, n." OED Online (Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2022), §6. Accessed 11 November 2022.
  15. ^ "'찐따', 'X랄하다'...욕도 전통을 가진다?". www.goeonair.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  16. ^ 참바다 (2021-01-15). 시사칼럼 우리 시대의 상징과 은유 (in Korean). e퍼플. ISBN 979-11-6569-712-9.
  17. ^ Constable, Peter (2004-04-19). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  18. ^ Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (2011-06-02). "L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  19. ^ Anderson, Deborah; Everson, Michael (2004-06-07). "L2/04-191: Proposal to encode six Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24.

External links

  •   Media related to X at Wikimedia Commons
  •   The dictionary definition of X at Wiktionary
  •   The dictionary definition of x at Wiktionary
  • "X" . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.

this, article, about, letter, other, uses, disambiguation, technical, reasons, redirects, here, keyboard, symbol, list, emoticons, technical, reasons, redirects, here, programming, language, sharp, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, ple. This article is about the letter For other uses see X disambiguation For technical reasons X redirects here For the keyboard symbol see List of emoticons For technical reasons X redirects here For the programming language see XSharp This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources X news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message X or x is the twenty fourth letter of the Latin alphabet used in the modern English alphabet the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide Its name in English is ex pronounced ˈ ɛ k s plural exes 2 XX xUsageWriting systemLatin scriptTypeAlphabetic and LogographicLanguage of originLatin languageGreek languagePhonetic usage x x ħ kʰ k s ʃ ɕ tʼ ʒ ɖ ʔ ǁ g ʒ 1 k ʃ d z d ʒ t s t ʃ sʲ z g z ɛ k s Unicode codepointU 0058 U 0078Alphabetical position24HistoryDevelopmentX x𐌗X xTime period 700 to presentDescendants ꭓ X SistersH𐍇Ⴕ ქႿ ჯOtherOther letters commonly used withx x Writing directionLeft to RightThis 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 Contents 1 History 2 Use in writing systems 2 1 English 2 2 Other languages 2 3 Other systems 3 Other uses 4 Related characters 4 1 Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet 4 2 Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets 5 Other representations 5 1 Computing 5 2 Other 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksHistoryWestern GreekChi EtruscanX LatinX nbsp nbsp nbsp The letter X representing ks was inherited from the Etruscan alphabet It perhaps originated in the X of the Euboean alphabet or another Western Greek alphabet which also represented ks Its relationship with the X of the Eastern Greek alphabets which represented kʰ is uncertain The pronunciation of ks in the Romance languages underwent sound changes with various outcomes French js e g laisser from laxare Italian ss e g asse from axem and in some cases ʃʃ e g lasciare from laxare Portuguese jʃ e g eixo from axem Romanian ps e g coapsă from coxa and s e g lăsa from laxare Old Spanish ʃ Spanish x e g cuja from coxa In Old Spanish x thus came to represent ʃ which it still represents in most Iberian languages and in the orthographies of other languages influenced by Spanish such as Nahuatl In French with a few exceptions Italian Romanian and modern Spanish x was replaced by other letters The use of x to represent ks was reintroduced to the Romance languages via Latin loanwords In many words this ks was voiced to gz Use in writing systemsPronunciation summary Languages in italics are not usually written using the Latin alphabetLanguage Dialect s Pronunciation IPA Environment NotesAsturian Some central dialects ʃ Before i and usually u sj ʃj Standard and other dialects ʃ Afar ɖ Albanian dz xh represents dʒ Azeri x Basque ʃ tx represents tʃ Catalan ʃ Usually word initially after consonants i au eu in some surnames such as Rexach gz ks Mandarin Chinese Standard ɕ Pinyin romanizationCou ɨ ʉ Possibly the only case in the world of x used as a vowel Dutch ks Usually Mainly used in loanwords s In TexelEnglish ks Usually before an unstressed vowel Yod coalescence leads to kʃ gz Before a stressed vowel Yod coalescence leads to gʒ z Word initially h Don Quixote Oaxaca words derived from Classical Nahuatl NahuatlEsperanto in digraphs only as a substitute for a diacritic cx gx hx jx sx ux are used as substitutes for ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ ŭ where these characters are not available See X conventionFrench ks Usually in Aix prefix or name of several places gz Mainly in the prefix ex followed by a vowel sometimes word initiallySilent Word finally with no liaison z Word finally with liaison in sixieme 6th and dixieme 10th s In six 6 dix 10 Auxerre and Bruxelles Brussels Galician ʃ Usually k s Some words In learned loanwordsGerman ks Mainly used in loanwordsIndonesian s In the beginning of a word Mainly used in loanwords for science ks In the middle or the end of a word although words borrowed with the letter x in the middle or the end of a word are always replaced by the letters ks For example the word maximum and climax in Indonesian would be maksimal and klimaks Letter x on the middle or the end of a word only occurs in names Italian ks Mainly used in learned loanwordsKurdish x Lao ɕ RomanizationLeonese ʃ Ligurian ʒ Maltese ʃ Mayan ʃ Modern RomanizationNahuatl ʃ Nguni ǁ Norwegian ks ArchaicOccitan t s Usually s Before consonants ɡz In the prefix ex before vowels In the Provencal Limousin Auvergnat Vivaro Alpine and Nicard dialects ɡʒ Before i and u In the Auvergnat dialectOromo tʼ Piraha ʔ Polish ks gz Portuguese ʃ Usually especially word initially in words derived from Tupi ks Some words Mainly in learned loanwords s When preceded by e and a consonant some words z In the prefix ex ex before a vowel gz In the prefix hexa hexa Sardinian ʒ Sicilian ʃ Old Sicilian words and names E g Craxi Joppolo Giancaxio k e s e LoanwordsSomali ħ Spanish k s Usually s Word initially ʃ In some names and words t ʃ x Swedish ks Uzbek x Venetian z Usually s In Venexia Venice Vietnamese s English In English orthography x is typically pronounced as the voiceless consonant cluster k s when it follows the stressed vowel e g ox and the voiced consonant ɡ z when it precedes the stressed vowel e g exam It is also pronounced ɡ z when it precedes a silent h and a stressed vowel e g exhaust 3 Due to yod coalescence the sequence xi before a vowel can be pronounced k ʃ resulting from earlier k s j e g in xion xious Similarly the sequence xu can be pronounced with k ʃ e g flexure sexual or ɡ ʒ in luxury and its derivatives Due to NG coalescence the sequence nx can be pronounced ŋ z in anxiety When x ends a word it is always k s e g fax except in loan words such as faux see French below There are very few English words that start with x the fewest of any letter When x does start a word it is usually pronounced z e g xylophone 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 s e g the obsolete Vietnamese monetary unit xu or ʃ e g Chinese names starting with Xi like Xiaomi or Xinjiang Many of the words that start with x are of Greek origin or standardized trademarks Xerox 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 Christ e g Xmas for Christmas Xian for Christian the crys in crystal XTAL by SXSW for South by Southwest or various words starting with ex e g XL for extra large XOR for exclusive or or the extinction symbol X is the third least frequently used letter in English after q and z with a frequency of about 0 15 in words 4 Other languages In Latin x stood for ks In some languages as a result of assorted phonetic changes handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention x has other pronunciations In Basque x represents ʃ Additionally there is the digraph tx tʃ In Dutch x usually represents ks except in the name of the island of Texel which is pronounced Tessel This is because of historical sound changes in Dutch where all ks sounds have been replaced by s sounds Words with an x in the Dutch language are nowadays usually loanwords In the Dutch speaking part of Belgium family names with x are not uncommon e g Dierckx Hendrickx Koninckx Sterckx Vranckx In Norwegian x is generally pronounced ks but since the 19th century there has been a tendency to spell it out as ks 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 and Finnish is similar while Swedish on the other hand makes frequent use of x in native words as well as in loanwords In German generally pronounced ks in native words however such as Ochs or wachsen the cluster ks is often written chs French at the ends of words silent or z in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel Three exceptions are pronounced s six six dix ten and in some city names such as Bruxelles although some people pronounce it ks or Auxerre it is fully pronounced ks in Aix the name of several towns It is pronounced z in sixieme and dixieme Otherwise ks or primarily in words beginning with ex followed by a vowel ɡz In Italian x is either pronounced ks as in extra uxorio xilofono 5 or ɡz as exogamia when it is preceded by e and followed by a vowel In several related languages notably Venetian it represents the voiced sibilant z 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 x is called per However x is found only in loanwords as it is not part of the standard Italian alphabet in most words with x this letter may be replaced with s or ss with different pronunciation xilofono silofono taxi tassi or rarely by cs with the same pronunciation claxon clacson In Old Spanish x was pronounced ʃ as it is still currently in other Iberian Romance languages Later the sound evolved to a hard x sound In modern Spanish due to a spelling reform whenever x is used for the x sound it has been replaced with j including in words that originally had x such as ejemplo or ejercicio though x is still retained for some names notably Mexico even though Mejico may sometimes be used in Spain Presently x represents the sound s word initially or the consonant cluster ks e g oxigeno examen Rarely it can be pronounced ʃ as in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as Raxel a variant of Rachel and Uxmal In Galician and Leonese x is pronounced ʃ in most cases often used in place of etymological g or j The pronunciation ks occurs in learned words such as taxativo taxing However Galician speakers tend to pronounce it s especially when it appears before plosives such as in externo external In Catalan x has three sounds the most common is ʃ as in xarop syrup Other sounds are ks fixar to fix ɡz examen In addition ʃ gets voiced to ʒ before voiced consonants caixmir Catalan also has the digraph tx pronounced tʃ In Portuguese x has four main sounds the most common is ʃ as in xicara cup The other sounds are ks as in flexao flexion s when preceded by E and followed by a consonant as in contexto ʃ in European Portuguese and in a small number of other words such as proximo close next and the rarest z which occurs in the prefix ex before a vowel as in exagerado exaggerated A rare fifth sound is ɡz coexisting with z and ks as acceptable pronunciations in exantema and in words with the Greek prefix hexa In Sardinian and Ligurian X represents ʒ In Venetian it represents the voiced alveolar sibilant z much like in Portuguese exagerado English xylophone or in the French sixieme 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 veˈnɛsja in which x has evolved from the initial voiced sibilant z to the present day voiceless sibilant In Albanian x represents dz while the digraph xh represents dʒ In Maltese x is pronounced ʃ or in some cases ʒ only in loanwords such as televixin and not for all speakers In Polish x was used prior to 19th century both in loanwords and native words and was pronounced ks or ɡz e g xiaze xiestwo now ksiaze ksiestwo Later was replaced by ks and gz in almost all words and remained only in a few loanwords as xenia xenien surnames as Axentowicz Jaxa Koxowski Mixtacki Rexemowski Xiezopolski names as Xawery Xymena and abbreviations Additionally in languages for which the Latin alphabet has been adapted only recently x 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 x can be written by other means the letter becomes available for more unusual sounds x represents x voiceless velar fricative in e g Azerbaijani Kurdish Hawar alphabet Georgian when Latinized Lojban Pashto when Latinized Tatar Jaꞑalif Zamanalif official romanization of 2012 Uzbek and Uyghur Latin script Esperanto The x convention replaces ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ and ŭ with x suffixes cx gx hx jx sx and ux In transliteration of Indian languages primarily Indo Aryan languages x represents the consonant cluster kʃ in alternate spellings of words containing क ष kṣ especially names such as Laxmi and Dixit Less frequently x is used to represent ख x In Apache x represents x In Nahuatl x represents ʃ In Nguni languages x represents the alveolar lateral click ǁ In Piraha x symbolizes the glottal stop ʔ An illustrating example of x as a leftover letter is differing usage in three different Cushitic languages Afar voiced alveolar implosive ɗ Oromo alveolar ejective tʼ Somali voiceless pharyngeal fricative ħ In East and Southeast Asia In Lao based on romanization of Lao consonants x may represent ɕ e g in Lan Xang In Vietnamese x is pronounced like English s at the beginning of a word e g sing This sound was ɕ in Middle Vietnamese resembling the Portuguese sound ʃ spelled x In Hanyu Pinyin Standard Chinese s official transcription system in China Malaysia Singapore and Taiwan the letter x represents the voiceless alveolo palatal fricative ɕ for instance in Xi ɕi Other systems In the International Phonetic Alphabet x represents a voiceless velar fricative Other usesMain article X disambiguation The Roman numeral X represents the number 10 6 7 In mathematics x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value The modern tradition of using x y and z to represent an unknown incognita was introduced by Rene Descartes in La Geometrie 1637 8 As a result of its use in algebra X is often used to represent unknowns in other circumstances e g X rays Generation X The X Files and The Man from Planet X see also Malcolm X On some identification documents the letter X represents a non binary gender where F means female and M means male 9 10 In the Cartesian coordinate system x is used to refer to the horizontal axis It is also sometimes used as a typographic approximation for the multiplication sign In mathematical typesetting x meaning an algebraic variable is normally in italic type x displaystyle x nbsp 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 11 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 12 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 13 the earliest example of this usage cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1878 14 An X rating denotes media such as movies that are intended for adults only In the Korean language a series of Xs is used as a visual bleep censor for subtitles and captions serving the same role as an asterisk 15 16 In the C programming language 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 2 Related charactersDescendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet X with diacritics Ẍ ẍ Ẋ ẋ X x ᶍ 17 IPA specific symbols related to X x Teuthonista phonetic transcription specific symbols related to X 18 U AB56 ꭖ LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LOW RIGHT RING U AB57 ꭗ LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG U AB58 ꭘ LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG AND LOW RIGHT RING U AB59 ꭙ LATIN SMALL LETTER X WITH LONG LEFT LEG WITH SERIF ˣ Modifier letter small x is used for phonetic transcription ₓ Subscript small x is used in Indo European studies 19 Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets X x Greek letter Chi from which the following derive Ꭓ ꭓ Latin chi H h Cyrillic letter Kha Ⲭ ⲭ Coptic letter Khe which derives from Greek Chi 𐍇 Gothic letter enguz which derives from Greek Chi 𐌗 Old Italic X which derives from Greek Chi and is the ancestor of modern Latin X ᚷ Runic letter Gyfu which may derive from old Italic X 3 3 Greek letter Xi which was used in place of Chi in the Eastern and the modern Greek alphabetsOther representationsComputing Character information Preview X x X xUnicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X LATIN SMALL LETTER X FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER XEncodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hexUnicode 88 U 0058 120 U 0078 65336 U FF38 65368 U FF58UTF 8 88 58 120 78 239 188 184 EF BC B8 239 189 152 EF BD 98Numeric character reference amp 88 wbr amp x58 wbr amp 120 wbr amp x78 wbr amp 65336 wbr amp xFF38 wbr amp 65368 wbr amp xFF58 wbr EBCDIC family 231 E7 167 A7ASCII 1 88 58 120 781 Also for encodings based on ASCII including the DOS Windows ISO 8859 and Macintosh families of encodings Other NATO phonetic Morse codeXray nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Signal flag Flag semaphore American manual alphabet ASL fingerspelling British manual alphabet BSL fingerspelling Braille dots 1346 Unified English BrailleSee alsoX markReferences as in the English word luxurious a b X Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition 1989 Merriam Webster s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged 1993 ex op cit Venezky Richard 1 January 1970 The Structure of English Orthography The Hague Walter de Gruyter p 40 ISBN 978 3 11 080447 8 Archived from the original on 27 April 2017 Retrieved 29 October 2016 Micka Pavel Letter frequency English Algoritmy net Archived from the original on 4 March 2021 Retrieved 9 February 2014 Dizionario di ortografia e pronunzia Dictionary of Spelling and Pronunciation Dizionario di ortografia e pronunzia in Italian Archived from the original on 16 April 2018 Retrieved 9 February 2014 Gordon Arthur E 1983 Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy University of California Press p 44 ISBN 9780520038981 Retrieved 3 October 2015 roman numerals King David A 2001 The Ciphers of the Monks Franz Steiner Verlag p 282 ISBN 9783515076401 Archived from the original on 2021 01 04 Retrieved 2020 11 22 In the course of time I V and X became identical with three letters of the alphabet originally however they bore no relation to these letters Cajori Florian 1928 A History of Mathematical Notations Chicago Open Court Publishing p 381 ISBN 9780486161167 Archived from the original on 2021 04 13 Retrieved 2020 11 22 See History of algebra Holme Ingrid 2008 Hearing People s Own Stories Science as Culture 17 3 341 344 doi 10 1080 09505430802280784 S2CID 143528047 New Zealand Passports Information about Changing Sex Gender Identity Archived from the original on 23 September 2014 Retrieved 6 October 2014 X marks the spot Archived from the original on 4 June 2016 Retrieved 21 June 2016 X Mark of Collaboration Issue No 0053X Arkitip Inc arkitip com Archived from the original on 2016 05 17 Retrieved 2016 03 22 Epstein Nadine 2020 10 07 A whole lot of history behind x and o kiss and hug The Washington Post Archived from the original on 2018 04 01 Retrieved 2021 03 12 X n OED Online Oxford Oxford University Press September 2022 6 Accessed 11 November 2022 찐따 X랄하다 욕도 전통을 가진다 www goeonair com in Korean Retrieved 2023 08 22 참바다 2021 01 15 시사칼럼 우리 시대의 상징과 은유 in Korean e퍼플 ISBN 979 11 6569 712 9 Constable Peter 2004 04 19 L2 04 132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Everson Michael Dicklberger Alois Pentzlin Karl Wandl Vogt Eveline 2011 06 02 L2 11 202 Revised proposal to encode Teuthonista phonetic characters in the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 Anderson Deborah Everson Michael 2004 06 07 L2 04 191 Proposal to encode six Indo Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2017 10 11 Retrieved 2018 03 24 External links nbsp Media related to X at Wikimedia Commons nbsp The dictionary definition of X at Wiktionary nbsp The dictionary definition of x at Wiktionary X The American Cyclopaedia 1879 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title X amp oldid 1218261916, wikipedia, wiki, 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