X is the twenty-fourth letter in the modern English alphabet. Its name in English ( ) is spelled ex, plural exes ( ).

History

The consonant cluster /ks/ was, in Ancient Greek, written as either Chi Χ (Western Greek) or Xi Ξ (Eastern Greek). In the end, Chi was standardized as /kʰ/ (/x/ in Modern Greek), while Xi was standardized for /ks/. But the Etruscans had taken over Χ from older Western Greek; therefore, it stood for /ks/ in Etruscan and Latin.

It is unknown whether the letters Chi and Xi are Greek inventions, or whether they are ultimately of Semitic origin. Chi was placed toward the end of the Greek alphabet, after the Semitic letters, along with Phi, Psi, and Omega, suggesting that it was an innovation; further, there is no letter corresponding specifically to the sound /ks/ in Semitic. There was a Phoenician letter

Usage

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, 1 represents a voiceless velar fricative.

In some languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention, X has other pronunciations:

• Basque or Leonese: as a spelling for 2.
• Dutch: The island of Texel is pronounced as Tessel. This is because ss was written with a ligature closely resembling the x.
• English: X is a double consonant or, rather, a sign for the compound consonants 3; or sometimes when followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, or when followed by silent h and an accented vowel 4 (e.g. exhaust, exam); usually 5 at the beginnings of words (e.g. xylophone), and in some compounds keeps the 6 sound, as in (e.g. meta-xylene). It also makes the sound 7 in words ending in -xion (typically used only in British-based spellings of the language; American spellings tend to use -ction). It can also represent the sounds 8 or 9, for example, in the words luxury and sexual, respectively. Final x is always 10 (e.g. ax/axe) except in loan words such as faux (see French, below). 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), or various words starting with "ex" (e.g. XL for extra large; XOR for exclusive-or).
• French: at the ends of words, silent (or 11 in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel). This usage arose as a handwriting alteration of final -us. Two exceptions are pronounced 12: six and dix.
• In Italian, X is always pronounced 13, as in the words uxorio, extra, xilofono. It is also used, mainly amongst younger generations as a short form for "per" meaning "for", for example, x sempre (forever). This because in Italian the multiplication sign (similar to x) is called "per".
• In Norwegian, X is generally pronounced 14, but since the nineteenth century there has been a tendency to spell it out as ks whenever possible; it may still be retained in names of people, though it is fairly rare, and occurs mostly in foreign words and SMS language.
• Spanish: In Old Spanish, X was pronounced 15, as it is still currently in other Iberian languages. Later, the sound evolved to a hard 16 sound. In modern Spanish, the hard 17 sound is spelled with a j, or with a g before e and i, though x is still retained for some names (notably México, which alternates with Méjico). Now, X represents the sound 18 (word-initially), or the consonat clusters 19 and 20 (e.g. oxígeno, examen). Even rarer, the x can be pronounced 21 like in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as Raxel (a variant of Rachel) and Xelajú.
• Galician, Catalan and Leonese language: In Galician (a language related to Portuguese and spoken in Northwestern Spain), and Leonese language, in Spain, x is pronounced 22 in most cases. In cultisms, such as 'taxativo' (taxative), the x is pronounced 23. However, Galician speakers tend to pronounce it as s, especially when it appears in implosive position, such as in 'externo' (extern).
• In Portuguese, x can have four sounds: the most common is 24, as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: 25 as in 'fênix/fénix' (phoenix) and s, as in 'próximo' (close/next). The most rare is 26, as in 'exagerado' (exaggerate).
• In Albanian, x represents 27, while the digraph xh represents 28.
• Polish doesn't use X. In loanwords, X is either replaced by ks like in 'ekstra' (extra), or gz like in 'egzotyczny' (exotic).
• In the German and Italian languages, X is used mainly in foreign loan words.
• In Maltese x is pronounced 29
• In Vietnamese x is pronounced 30