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

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

  1. The Roman numeral ten (10).
  2. (especially in the names of aristocracy) The tenth.
  3. October.
    Comeronyms: I, i, 1; II, ii, 2; III, iii, 3; IV, iv, 4; V, v, 5; VI, vi, 6; VII, vii, 7; VIII, viii, 8; IX, ix, 9; XI, xi, 11; XII, xii, 12
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.
  4. A placeholder for any letter or word.
    Alternative form: x
  5. Alternative letter-case form of x (a kiss)
  6. (linguistics) A wildcard for any sound (consonant, vowel or tone).
  7. (international standards) Substituted for the third letter of a currency code to denote the minor unit of that currency.
  8. (chemistry) Halogen.
  9. The symbol in bases higher than thirty-three for the number expressed as 33 in decimal.

Etymology 2

Possibly from skull and crossbones.

Symbol

X

  1. A hazard indicator, sometimes incorporated into standard labeling and signage systems.
Derived terms

See also

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)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • 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

    1. An unknown quantity or unknown value.
      Alternative form: x
      Let X represent the forecast traffic flow in 20 years’ time.
      • 2020 January 30, Richard Johns, “Why Physicalism Seems to Be (and Is) Incompatible with Intentionality”, in Acta Analytica[2], →DOI, pages 7-8:
        To know whether a word X is heterological, we must already know what X means. (By contrast, I can know that the word “subdermatoglyphic” has certain syntactic properties—it is six-syllabled, contains the letter “m”, etc.— without having any idea of its meaning.) This indirectness is fine as long as X already has an assigned meaning, for in that case the meaning of “heterological” is ultimately grounded. But when X is the word “heterological”, then we are trying to define “heterological” in terms of itself. We have a closed circle, and a contradictory one, due to the negation operator in the definition.
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Proper noun

     
    Logo of the social media network (etymology 1 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.
      • 2023 November, Andrea L. R. Pillai, “Hawks and Doves: Evaluating Presidential Powers and Duties Against Congress's Power to Declare War”, in Duke Law Journal[3], volume 73, number 2, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 March 2024, page 419:
        Although the Take Care Clause grants the president significant authority to enforce the laws, the duty to take care does not include a power to forbid the execution of the laws. Consequently, the president does not have the authority to disregard Congress’s declaration of war against Country X. On the contrary, the president has an obligation to faithfully execute the declaration of war, even against their own beliefs and wishes.
    2. (anthroponymy, politics) A surname, used by those who have had their identity or heritage, including their proper ancestral names, erased or forgotten.
    3. (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[4], →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.
    4. (computing) The X Window System, a windowing system for bitmap displays commonly used in Unix-like systems.
    Usage notes
    • Despite officially rebranding to X in July 2023, the social network is still commonly referred to as Twitter.
    Derived terms
    surname
    social media network

    Further reading

    Etymology 2

      Letter

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

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

      Noun

      X

      1. 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.
      2. (lacrosse) The spot behind the goal.
      Derived terms
      signature mark
      Translations

      Adjective

      X (not comparable)

      1. Intersex or non-binary (in passports and identification documents).
        Alternative form: x
        Coordinate terms: M, F
        • 2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times[5], archived from the original on 8 June 2019:
          So last summer, when the Massachusetts State Legislature became one of the first in the nation to consider a bill to add an “X” option for nonbinary genders to the “M” and “F” on the state driver’s license, El, 17, was less surprised than some at the maneuver that effectively killed it.

      Verb

      X (third-person singular simple present Xs, present participle Xing, simple past and past participle Xed)

      1. Alternative spelling of ex (to delete; to cross out).
        • 1944, Henry R. Luce, Fortune, volume 30, page 88:
          I Xed the ballot for our Congressman last election just because he seemed []

      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”‎[6]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.

          Etymology 5

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

            Proper noun

            X

            1. (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.

                Afar

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case 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

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

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

                See also

                Azerbaijani

                Pronunciation

                • (phoneme) IPA(key): [χ]
                • (letter name) IPA(key): [χeː], [χɯː]

                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 (upper case, lower case x)

                1. A letter of the Central Franconian alphabet (German-based), written in the Latin script.
                2. A letter of the Central Franconian alphabet (Dutch-based), written in the Latin script.

                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 (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Chinese

                Pronunciation 1


                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

                1. The twenty-fourth letter of the Latin alphabet as used in Chinese, written in the Latin script.

                Pronunciation 2


                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Dutch

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case 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.
                  ambaŭambaux

                Further reading

                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

                See also

                French

                French Wikipedia has an article on:
                Wikipedia fr

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Noun

                X m or f (invariable)

                1. 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 n (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Heiltsuk

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, 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 (upper case, lower case x)

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

                See also

                Ido

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, 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 (upper case, lower case x, invariable)

                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]‎[7] (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

                Korean

                Etymology

                From Japanese ×(ばつ).

                Symbol

                X (X)

                1. false.

                Antonyms

                • O (O)

                Derived terms

                Kwak'wala

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, 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 (upper case, lower case 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 (upper case, lower case x)

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

                See also

                Norwegian

                Letter

                X (upper case, 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 m (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 (upper case, lower case 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; preceded by J and followed by KH.

                Usage notes

                See also

                Spanish

                Pronunciation

                Etymology 1

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Etymology 2

                Borrowed from English X.

                Proper noun

                X ?

                1. X (social network formerly known as Twitter)
                  • 2025 January 28, Jordan Valinsky, “Google Maps cambiará el nombre del golfo de México por el de "golfo de Estados Unidos"”, in CNN en Español[8]:
                    En una publicación en X, Google explicó que tiene una “práctica de larga data de aplicar cambios de nombre cuando se han actualizado en fuentes gubernamentales oficiales”.
                    (please add an English translation of this quotation)

                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 Filipino alphabet, called eks and written in the Latin script
                2. (historical) the twenty-sixth letter of 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, 2018

                Tashelhit

                Pronunciation

                Letter

                X (upper case, lower case x)

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

                Further reading

                Vietnamese

                Pronunciation

                • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔïk̟̚˧˦], [ʔïk̟̚˧˦ si˨˩], [səː˨˩], [səː˨˩ ɲɛ˧˨ʔ]
                • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɨt̚˦˧˥], [ʔɨt̚˦˧˥ sɪj˦˩], [səː˦˩], [səː˦˩ ɲɛ˨˩ʔ]
                • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɨt̚˦˥], [ʔɨt̚˦˥ sɪj˨˩], [səː˨˩], [səː˨˩ ɲɛ˨˩˨]
                • Phonetic spelling: ích, ích xì, xờ, xờ nhẹ
                • Audio (Hà Nội):(file)

                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