Wiktionary

X

See also: Appendix:Variations of "x"
Languages (40)
Translingual • English
Afar • Afrikaans • Albanian • Azerbaijani • Basque • Catalan • Central Franconian • Central Mazahua • Chinese • Dutch • Esperanto • Estonian • Finnish • French • German • Heiltsuk • Hungarian • Icelandic • Ido • Italian • Kankanaey • Korean • Kwak'wala • Latin • Malay • Maltese • Navajo • Norwegian • Portuguese • Romani • Romanian • Saanich • Somali • Spanish • Tagalog • Tashelhit • Vietnamese • Zulu
Page categories

X U+0058, X
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X
← W
[U+0057] 		Basic Latin Y →
[U+0059]
Character variations

Ⅹ U+2169, Ⅹ
ROMAN NUMERAL TEN
← Ⅸ
[U+2168] 		Number Forms Ⅺ →
[U+216A]
Ｘ U+FF38, Ｘ
FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X
← Ｗ
[U+FF37] 		Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms Ｙ →
[U+FF39]

Translingual

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From the Etruscan letter 𐌗 (x, “ex”), from the Ancient Greek letter Χ (Kh, “chi”), created ex nihilo.

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
See also

Numeral

Roman numeral
X Previous: IX
Next: XI

X

  2. The Roman numeral ten (10).
  3. (especially in the names of aristocracy) The tenth.
Alternative forms
Derived terms

Symbol

X

  1. (bowling) A strike.
    Coordinate term: / (spare)
  2. (sports) A fail.
    Coordinate terms: O (success), - (skip)
  3. One of the tristimulus values which, with Y and Z, defines coordinates in a three-dimensional color space. Pronounced (in English) big X or cap X.
    • 2003, Charles A. Poynton, Digital Video and HDTV: Algorithms and Interfaces (in English), →ISBN, page 217:
      X, Y and Z are pronounced big-X, big-Y, and big-Z, or cap-X, cap-Y, and cap-Z, to distinguish them from little x and little y, to be described in a moment.
  5. A placeholder for any letter or word.
    Alternative form: x
  7. Alternative letter-case form of x (“a kiss”).
  8. (linguistics) A wildcard for any sound (consonant, vowel or tone).
  9. (international standards) Substituted for the third letter of a currency code to denote the minor unit of that currency.
  10. (chemistry) Halogen.

Etymology 2

Possibly from skull and crossbones.

Symbol

X

  1. A hazard indicator, sometimes incorporated into standard labeling and signage systems.
Derived terms
  • Letter styles
  •  
    Uppercase and lowercase versions of X, in normal and italic type
  •  
    Uppercase and lowercase X in Fraktur

See also

The template Template:Letter does not use the parameter(s): 
Character=X
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.

Other representations of X:

English

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ɛks/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (phoneme)
    • IPA(key): /ks/, /ɡz/, /kʃ/, /ɡʒ/
    • IPA(key): /z/, /ʃ/ (word-initially)
  • Rhymes: -ɛks
  • Homophone: Exe

Etymology 1

Introduced by René Descartes in the context of mathematical notation, but has since widened to other contexts.

Numeral

X

  2. An unknown quantity or unknown value.
    Alternative form: x
    Let X represent the forecast traffic flow in 20 years’ time.
Derived terms
X chromosome
Translations

Proper noun

 
Logo of the social media network (sense 3)

X

  1. A placeholder for an unknown, suppressed or hypothetical name.
    The woman known until now as Witness X has been unmasked after a court ruling.
    Suppose that Mr and Mrs X have been married for many years.
  2. (anthroponymy, politics) A surname, used by those who have had their identity or heritage, including their proper ancestral names, erased or forgotten.
    Malcolm X
  4. (social media) An online social media network, formerly known as Twitter.
    Alternative form: 𝕏
    • 2025 February 3, Richard Luscombe, “Marco Rubio appoints himself head of USAid as workers locked out of office”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      Two senior USAid security officials were suspended on Sunday for blocking Doge officials from a restricted area, a day after the agency’s website went offline, and Musk posted to X that USAid was “beyond repair” and needed to be shut down.
Usage notes
  • Despite officially rebranding to X in July 2023, the social network is still commonly referred to as Twitter.
Derived terms
placeholder
surname
social media network

Further reading

Etymology 2

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x, plural Xs or X's)

  2. The twenty-fourth letter of the English alphabet, called ex and written in the Latin script.
See also

Noun

X

  2. Any mark that looks like that letter, such as a mark made by a person who cannot read or write in lieu of a signature.
  3. (lacrosse) The spot behind the goal.
Derived terms
cross mark
signature mark
Translations

Adjective

X (not comparable)

  2. Intersex or non-binary (in passports and identification documents).
    Coordinate terms: M, F
    Alternative form: x

Etymology 3

Presumably by abbreviation of the pronunciation of ecstasy.

Noun

X (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Ecstasy, a particular street drug.
    • 2003 January 7, “In da Club” (track 5), in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent:
      You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub'. Look, mami, I got the X if you into takin' drugs.
    • 2008, Stephen King, Graduation Weekend:
      Tonight the kids will go out and party down in a more righteous mode. Alcohol and not a few tabs of X will be ingested. Club music will throb through big speakers.
    • 2018 June 8, “Love Druggie”‎[3]performed by Mendoza:
      I'm a love druggie falling for these drug junkies. Come n call on me besides these X parties. It's fucking hard on my body.
Translations

Etymology 4

Adjective

X (not comparable)

  1. (British film certificate, dated) Suitable only for those aged sixteen or (later) eighteen years and over.
  2. (originally movie rating) Obscene; adult; pornographic; XXX.
    • 1976, Movie Maker, volume 10, numbers 1-6, page 364:
      If you go to an X movie you do so knowingly, as does everyone else in the audience. Or if the same thing comes up on TV you can switch over, or, if you wish, enjoy it in relative privacy.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 5

From Christ by abbreviation, orthographic borrowing from Ancient Greek Χ (Kh, letter chi), from Χριστός (Khristós, “Christ”).

Proper noun

X

  2. (informal) Christ
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 6

 
Sign reading “Pedestrian X” (Pedestrian Crossing)

From cross, due to the X symbol being a cross saltire.

Noun

X (plural Xes)

  1. Cross, crossing.
    Kennington via Charing X
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 7

Adjective

X (comparative more X, superlative most X)

  1. (informal) Abbreviation of extreme.

See also

Afar

Letter

X

  1. The eighth letter of the Afar alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ɛks/

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Noun

X (plural X'e, diminutive X'ie)

  1. X

Albanian

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /d͡z/

Letter

X (upper case X, lower case x)

  1. The thirty-second letter of the Albanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Azerbaijani

Letter

X upper case (lower case x)

  1. The twelfth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Basque

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Basque alphabet, called ixa and written in the Latin script.

See also

Catalan

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Catalan alphabet, called ics or xeix and written in the Latin script.

Derived terms

See also

Central Franconian

Pronunciation

  • /ks/

Letter

X

  1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
  2. A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

  • In the German-based spelling, x is the default spelling for /ks/, but not the most frequent spelling. Following the German cognate or otherwise when there is an intervening morpheme boundary, the spellings chs, cks, ks (possibly also ggs) may be used instead.
  • In the Dutch-based spelling, /ks/ is usually represented by ks. The letter x occurs only rarely in loanwords.
  • X is never doubled and preceding vowels are short unless they are themselves doubled (as in English).

Central Mazahua

Pronunciation

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Chinese

Pronunciation 1

Letter

X

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

Letter

X

  1. The second letter used in Pinyin.

Dutch

Pronunciation

Letter

X (capital, lowercase x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

  • Previous letter: W
  • Next letter: Y

Esperanto

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. (replacement) The letter that represents a diacritic in the x-system, written after the letter in its non-diacriticed form; it is called ikso.
    ambaŭ → ambaux

Estonian

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The thirty-first letter of the Estonian alphabet, called iks and written in the Latin script.

See also

Finnish

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and X for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Finnish alphabet, called äks or eks and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

  • Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords, it is replaced with ks.

Derived terms

compounds

See also

French

 
French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Pronunciation

Noun

X m or f (plural X)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the French alphabet, called ixe and written in the Latin script.
  2. X-frame stool
    • 1862, Victor Hugo, chapter 1, in Les Misérables, Tome I : Fantine, book 3:
      La duchesse de Duras lisait à trois ou quatre amis, dans son boudoir meublé d’X en satin bleu ciel […] .
      The Duchess de Duras was reading to two or three friends, in a boudoir furnished with X-frame stools in sky-blue satin.

Adjective

X (invariable)

  1. X-rated

Derived terms

German

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the German alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Heiltsuk

Pronunciation

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. A letter of the Heiltsuk alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): [ˈiks]
  • (phonetic realization) IPA(key): [ˈks]

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. A letter of the extended Hungarian alphabet, called iksz and written in the Latin script.

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative X X-ek
accusative X-et X-eket
dative X-nek X-eknek
instrumental X-szel X-ekkel
causal-final X-ért X-ekért
translative X-szé X-ekké
terminative X-ig X-ekig
essive-formal X-ként X-ekként
essive-modal — —
inessive X-ben X-ekben
superessive X-en X-eken
adessive X-nél X-eknél
illative X-be X-ekbe
sublative X-re X-ekre
allative X-hez X-ekhez
elative X-ből X-ekből
delative X-ről X-ekről
ablative X-től X-ektől
non-attributive
possessive – singular 		X-é X-eké
non-attributive
possessive – plural 		X-éi X-ekéi
Possessive forms of X
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. X-em X-eim
2nd person sing. X-ed X-eid
3rd person sing. X-e X-ei
1st person plural X-ünk X-eink
2nd person plural X-etek X-eitek
3rd person plural X-ük X-eik

See also

Icelandic

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Ido

Pronunciation

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Italian

 
Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ˈiks/
  • (phonemic realization) IPA(key): /ks/

Letter

X f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case x)

  1. the twenty-fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, called ics in Italian

Usage notes

  • The letter X is not considered part of the Italian alphabet. It is found mainly in loanwords, Latinisms, and Grecisms.

See also

Kankanaey

Etymology

Borrowed from Tagalog X. Letter pronunciation is influenced by English X.

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ʔeks/ [ʔek̠s]
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /ks/ [k̠s]

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Kankanaey alphabet, called eks and written in the Latin script.

See also

References

  • Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2016) Ortograpiya di Kankanaëy [Kankanaey Orthography]‎[4] (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

Korean

Etymology

From Japanese ×(ばつ).

Symbol

X • (X)

  1. false.

Antonyms

  • O (O)

Derived terms

OX (OX)

Kwak'wala

Pronunciation

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. A letter of the Kwak'wala alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Latin

 
Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Χ (Kh, “chi”), which represented /ks/ in the dialects of most of the Greek mainland and Euboea.

Pronunciation

The sound of X was like that of the Greek Ξ (X, “xi”), that is /ks/, although etymologically it represented not only cs (as in lūx, from luc-s, and dīxī, from dic-si), but also gs (as in lēx, from leg-s; rēxī, from reg-si); hs (as in trāxī, from trah-si; vexī, from veh-si); and chs (as in the word onyx, from onych-s, borrowed from the Greek). The hardening of a softer final (g, h, ch) before s into the с sound, which occurs in the last-mentioned cases, is found also in several roots ending in v and u: nix for niv-s, vīxī for viv-si, connixī for conniv-si, fluxī for fluv-si, from fluō (root fluv-; compare fluvius), struxī for stru-si.

Less frequently x has arisen from the combinations ps and ts: proximus for prop-simus (from prope), nīxus for nit-sus (from nītor), the latter being used along with the collateral form nīsus, as also connīvī with connixī, and mistus (from misceō) with mixtus.

An exchange of the sounds ss or s and x, took place in axis for assis and laxus for lassus. In the later language of the vulgar, the guttural sound in x disappeared, and s or ss was often written for it; as vis for vix, visit for vīxit, unsit for unxit, conflississet for conflixisset, in late inscriptions; hence regularly in Italian, and frequently in the other Romance tongues, the Latin x is represented by s or ss.

By a mere graphic variation, one of the constituent sounds of x is often expressed in inscriptions (but not the earliest) by an additional с or s; as SACXO or SAXSO for saxō; VCXOR or VXSOR for uxor; CONIVNCX or CONIVNXS for conjunx; even both sounds are sometimes thus expressed, VICXSIT for vīxit.

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Latin alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Symbol

X

  1. A digit 10 (decem) in the decimal Roman numeral system. Originally a tally mark. It is iterated for multiples.

Derived terms

See also

References

  • “X” in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short [1907], A New Latin Dictionary.

Malay

 
Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation

Letter

X

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Malay alphabet, called eks and written in the Latin script.

See also

Maltese

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Maltese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. A letter of the Navajo alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Norwegian

Letter

X (upper case X, lower case x)

  1. the 24th letter of the Norwegian alphabet

Usage notes

Mostly used in loan words and foreign names. Also used in old inscriptions and texts instead of ks.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

(letter name)

 

(phonetic realization) IPA(key): /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ks/, /ɡz/

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, called xis and written in the Latin script.

See also

Romani

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. (International Standard) The eleventh letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. (Pan-Vlax) The twelfth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

References

  • Yūsuke Sumi (2018) “X, x”, in ニューエクスプレス　ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, →ISBN, page 13

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • (phonetic realization) IPA(key): /ks/, /ɡz/

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called ics and written in the Latin script.

See also

Saanich

Pronunciation

  • (phonetic realization) IPA(key): /x̠/

Letter

X

  1. The thirty-fifth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Somali

Pronunciation

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ħɑ/
  • (phonetic realization) IPA(key): /ħ/

Letter

X upper case (lower case x)

  1. The fifth letter of the Somali alphabet, called xa and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

  • The fifth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by J and followed by KH.

See also

Spanish

Pronunciation

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Spanish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Derived terms

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish X. Each pronunciation has a different source:

  • Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English X.
  • Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish X.

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Tagalog)
    • IPA(key): /ˈʔeks/ [ˈʔɛks] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
    • IPA(key): /ˈʔekis/ [ˈʔɛː.xɪs] (letter name, Abecedario)
    • IPA(key): /ks/ [ks] (phoneme)
    • IPA(key): /h/ [h] (phoneme, some Spanish loanwords)

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called eks and written in the Latin script.
  2. (historical) The twenty-sixth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called equis or ekis and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

  • This letter is mostly used only in proper nouns, unadapted loanwords, or Spanish-based spellings.

See also

Further reading

  • “X”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Tashelhit

Pronunciation

Letter

X (lower case x)

  1. A letter of the Tashelhit alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Further reading

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔit̚˧˦ si˨˩], [ʔit̚˧˦ si˨˩], [səː˨˩], [səː˨˩ ɲɛ˧˨ʔ]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔit̚˦˧˥ ʂɪj˦˩] ~ [ʔit̚˦˧˥ sɪj˦˩], [ʔit̚˦˧˥ sɪj˦˩], [səː˦˩], [səː˦˩ ɲɛ˨˩ʔ]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɨt̚˦˥ ʂɪj˨˩] ~ [ʔɨt̚˦˥ sɪj˨˩], [ʔɨt̚˦˥ sɪj˨˩], [səː˨˩], [səː˨˩ ɲɛ˨˩˨]
  • Phonetic spelling: ít sì, ít xì, xờ, xờ nhẹ

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called ích, ích xì, xờ, or xờ nhẹ and written in the Latin script.

See also

Zulu

Letter

X (upper case, lower case x)

  1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

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