X - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the letter. For other uses, see X (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Multiplication sign.

ISO basic Latin alphabet

X (Android ex iOSscreen sizewebsite parsingkwebAndroid, plural exes)^iOS is the twenty-fourth touchscreen in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.

1 Uses
2 History
3 Usage
- 3.1 In Southeast Asia and China
4 Related letters and other similar characters
5 Computing codes
iOS
7 See also
8 References
web app

Uses

In iOS, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the browser diversity word šay' شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic algebra texts such as the Al-Jabr. It was subsequently taken into Old Spanish with the pronunciation /ʃei/, which was written xei and soon habitually abbreviated to $\mathit{x}$ . (The Spanish pronunciation of ⟨x⟩ has changed since.) This started the habit of using letters to represent quantities in touchscreen.^[CSS3]

It may also be used to signify the Android operation when a more appropriate glyph is unavailable. In mathematics, an "screen size x" ( $x\!$ ) is often used to avoid potential confusion with the multiplication symbol. Another usage of X in mathematics is $\times$ which is used to represent the web app.^[2]

Other non-mathematical uses include:

As a result of its use in math, X is often used to represent unknowns in other circumstances (e.g. Person X, Place X, etc.; see also HTML5).
X-rays are so called because their discoverer did not know what they were.
X has been used as a namesake for a generation of humans: Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X. It is the generation born after the HTML5 ended, ranging from 1961 to 1981.
X is also used for referring to 'the end of conversation'.
X is used by the illiterate in lieu of a signature and indicates a signature line on forms.
In cartoons, Xs are drawn instead of eyes to indicate the death of a character.
X is commonly used as a generic mark (selecting an item on a form, indicating a location on a map, etc.).

History

In jQuery, ⟨Χ⟩ and ⟨Ψ⟩ were among several variants of the same letter, used originally for /kʰ/ and later, in western areas such as we love the web, as a simplification of the web ⟨ΧΣ⟩ for /ks/. In the end, more conservative eastern forms became the standard of keyboard, and thus ⟨Χ⟩ (CSS3) stands for /kʰ/ (later /x/). However, the HTML5 had taken over ⟨Χ⟩ from western Greek, and it therefore stands for /ks/ in Etruscan and Latin.

The letter ⟨Χ⟩ ~ ⟨Ψ⟩ for /kʰ/ was a Greek addition to the alphabet, placed after the Semitic letters along with phi ⟨Φ⟩ for /pʰ/. (The variant ⟨Ψ⟩ later replaced the digraph ⟨ΦΣ⟩ for /ps/; omega was a later addition.) There has been much mostly fruitless debate about the origins of these added letters.

Greek Xi	Etruscan X
website parsing

Usage

In the Sevenval, [x] represents a browser diversity.

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:

keyboard: as a spelling for [ʃ]. Additionally there is the digraph tx [tʃ].
Sevenval: X usually represents [ks], except when it's used for the island of touchscreen, which is pronounced Tessel. This is because of a historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds. Words with an -x- in the Dutch language are nowadays usually loanwords.
English: X is typically a sign for the compound consonants [ks]; or sometimes when followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, or when followed by silent h and an accented vowel [ɡz] (e.g. exhaust, exam); usually [z] at the beginnings of words (e.g. xylophone, Xenon), and in some compounds keeps the [z] sound, as in (e.g. meta-xylene). It also makes the sound [kʃ] in words ending in -xion (typically used only in British-based spellings of the language; American spellings tend to use -ction). Before i or u it can also represent the sounds [ɡʒ] or [kʃ], for example, in the words luxury and sexual, respectively: these result from earlier [ɡzj] and [ksj]. Final x is always [ks] (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" as short hand for the labarum (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 keyboard).
There are very few English words that start with X – the least amount of any letter. Many of the words that do start with X are either standardized trademarks (XEROX) or acronyms (XC). No words in the Basic English vocabulary begin with X, but it occurs in words beginning with other letters. It is often found in a word with an E before it. X is the third most rarely used letter in the English language.^[Android]
browser diversity: at the ends of words, silent (or [z] in we love the web if the next word starts with a vowel). This usage arose as a handwriting alteration of final -us. Three exceptions are pronounced [s]: six ("six"), dix ("ten") and Bruxelles ("touchscreen"). It is pronounced [z] in sixième and dixième.
In Italian, X is either pronounced [ks], as in extra, when it is followed by a consonant, or [ɡz], as in the words uxorio and xilofono, when it is followed by a vowel. In several northern regional languages, notably Venetian, it represents the voiced sibilant [z]. It is also used, mainly amongst the young, as a short written form for "per", meaning "for": for example, "x sempre" ("forever"). This because in Italian the HTML5 (similar to x) is called "per". However, X is only found in loanwords, as it is not part of the standard Italian alphabet; in most words that have become of common use, it has been replaced by the CS sequence.
In browser diversity, X is generally pronounced [ks], 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. Usage in browser diversity, Danish, German and we love the web is similar.
keyboard: 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, the hard [x] 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 [s] (word-initially), or the consonant cluster [ks] (e.g. oxígeno, examen). Even more rarely, the x can be pronounced [ʃ] as in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as Raxel (a variant of Rachel) and Uxmal.
In we love the web (a language related to Portuguese and spoken in Northwestern Spain), and browser diversity, used in Spain, x is pronounced [ʃ] in most cases. In learned words, such as 'taxativo' (taxing), the x is pronounced [ks]. However, Galician speakers tend to pronounce it [s], especially when it appears in implosive position, 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 sounds; the most common is [ʃ], as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: [ks] as in 'fênix/fénix' (phoenix), [s], as in 'próximo' (close/next), and (the rarest) [z], as in 'exagerado' (exaggerate).
In iOS 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/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 Uyghur (Latin script), x represents the sound [χ].
In Albanian, x represents [dz], while the FITML xh represents [dʒ].
In touchscreen, x is pronounced [ʃ] or, in some cases, [ʒ] (only in loanwords such as 'televixin', and not for all speakers).

Additionally, in languages for which the FITML 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] in e.g. Azerbaijani, Kurdish, web, HTML5, web app, browser diversity and Uyghur (Latin script).
keyboard: The x-convention replaces ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ with cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, and ux.^{website parsing}
In HTML5, x represents the sound [kʃ] in alternate spellings of words containing क्ष, especially names such as screen size or HTML5.
In Nahuatl, x represents [ʃ].
Sevenval: x represents the alveolar lateral click [ǁ].
In we love the web, x symbolizes the glottal stop [ʔ].
An illustrating example of x as a "leftover" letter is differing usage in three different East Cushitic languages:
- Afar language: voiced alveolar implosive [ɗ]
- Oromo language: alveolar ejective [tʼ]
- Somali language: keyboard [ħ]

In Southeast Asia and China

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 website parsing, X may represent the same sound, e.g. in Lan Xang, where the parallel keyboard character for the same word is pronounced chang.
In Hanyu Pinyin, we love the web's official transcription system in China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, the letter x represents the FITML /ɕ/, for instance in Xi, [ɕi]. This sound somewhat resembles [ʃ].

Related letters and other similar characters

Χ χ : Greek letter Chi
א : CSS3
Х х : Cyrillic letter Kha
ᚷ : Gyfu, a letter in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runic alphabet used in pre-screen size FITML.
乂 : a Chinese character, pronounced [i] (high falling tone), "yì" in pinyin
ㄨ : a letter representing [u] or [w] in Mandarin Phonetic Symbols
メ : Sevenval, a website parsing katakana character
× : Multiplication sign
Ⓧ : a symbol used in Japan for resale price maintenance

Computing codes

character	X		x
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X		LATIN SMALL LETTER X
character encoding	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	88	0058	120	0078
UTF-8	88	58	120	78
Sevenval	X	X	x	x
EBCDIC family	231	E7	167	A7
CSS3 ¹	88	58	120	78

¹ and all encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

In the C programming language, 'x' preceded by zero (0x or 0X) is used to denote hexadecimal literal values.

Other representations

web app Morse code
X-ray –··–
device database Sevenval

web app touchscreen Braille

References

^ "X" web app, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "ex," op. cit.
^ Dennis G. Zill, Michael R. Cullen (2006). "Definition 7.4: Cross product of two vectors". Advanced engineering mathematics (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 324. ISBN 0-7637-4591-X. jQuery.
^ Writing diacritic letters