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X | |
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X x | |
Usage | |
Writing system | Latin script |
Type | Alphabetic and logographic |
Language of origin | Latin language Greek language |
Sound values | |
In Unicode | U+0058, U+0078 |
Alphabetical position | 24 |
History | |
Development | |
Time period | ~−700 to present |
Descendants | |
Sisters | |
Other | |
Associated graphs | x(x) |
Writing direction | Left-to-right |
ISO basic Latin alphabet |
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Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz |
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]
Western Greek Chi | Etruscan X | Latin X |
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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:
In Old Spanish, ⟨x⟩ 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, the /ks/ was voiced as /gz/.
Orthography | Phonemes | Environment |
---|---|---|
Asturian | /ʃ/, /ks/ | |
Afar | /ɖ/ | |
Albanian | /dz/ | |
Azeri | /x/ | |
Basque | /ʃ/ | |
Catalan | /ʃ/ | Usually (word-initially, after consonants, i, au, or eu, in some surnames such as Rexach ) |
/gz/ | ||
/ks/ | ||
Standard Chinese (Pinyin) | /ɕ/ | |
Cou | /ɨ/ ~ /ʉ/ | |
Dutch | /ks/ | Usually, mainly used in loanwords |
/s/ | In Texel | |
English | /ks/ | Usually; before an unstressed vowel |
/gz/ | Before a stressed vowel | |
/z/ | Word-initially | |
/h/ | Don Quixote , Oaxaca , and 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 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. Mainly used in loanwords for science. | |
Italian | /ks/ | Mainly used in learned loanwords |
Kurdish | /x/ | |
Lao romanization | /s/ | A "low consonant", affects the tone of the following vowel |
Leonese | /ʃ/ | |
Ligurian | /ʒ/ | |
Maltese | /ʃ/ | |
Mayan (ALMG) | /ʃ/ | |
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 | /tʼ/ | |
Pirahã | /ʔ/ | |
Polish | /ks~gz/ | |
Portuguese | /ʃ/ | Usually, always when word-initially |
/ks/ | Found between vowels in some words, mainly in those that entered the language recently | |
/s/ | When preceded by ⟨e⟩ and succeded by a consonant | |
/z/ | In the prefixes ⟨ex⟩ when before a vowel and ⟨exo⟩ | |
/gz/ | Optionally in the prefix hexa-, although most dialects just pronounce this prefix’s ⟨x⟩ as /ks/ or /z/ | |
Sardinian | /ʒ/ | |
Sicilian | /ʃ/ | Old Sicilian words and names, e.g. Craxi and Giancaxio |
/k(ə)s(ə)/ | Loanwords | |
Somali | /ħ/ | |
Spanish | /(k)s/ | Usually |
/s/ | Word-initially | |
/ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/, /x/ | In some names and words | |
Swedish | /ks/ | |
Uzbek | /χ/ | |
Venetian | /z/ | Usually |
/s/ | In Venexia, "Venice" | |
Vietnamese | /s/ |
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. 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, 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] There are very few English words that start with ⟨x⟩ (the fewest of any letter).
In Latin, ⟨x⟩ stood for /ks/. In the Romance languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, ⟨x⟩ has other pronunciations:
In languages which adopted the Latin alphabet later, ⟨x⟩ is used for various sounds, in some cases inspired by Latin or its descendants, but in others for unrelated consonants. Since the various Romance pronunciations of ⟨x⟩ can often be written in other ways, the letter becomes available for other sounds.
An illustrative example of ⟨x⟩ as a "leftover" letter is the differing usage in three different Cushitic languages:
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨x⟩ represents a voiceless velar fricative.
Preview | X | x | 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 [a] | 88 | 58 | 120 | 78 |
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