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The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay
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 Baby Boom ended, ranging from 1961 to 1981. It may also be used to signify the multiplication operation when a more appropriate glyph is unavailable. It is commonly used in correspondence along with the letter O to indicate affection (as in "XOXO"-the Xs representing kisses and the Os hugs). 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.).
The letter ‹Χ› ~ ‹Ψ› for was a Greek addition to the alphabet, placed after the Semitic letters along with phi ‹Φ› for . (The variant ‹Ψ› later replaced the digraph ‹ΦΣ› for ; omega was a later addition.) There has been much mostly fruitless debate about the origins of these added letters.
In Latin, X stood for . In some languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention, X has other pronunciations: . Additionally there is the digraph tx . usually represents , except when it's used for the island of Texel, which is pronounced as Tessel. This 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. is typically a sign for the compound consonants ; or sometimes when followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, or when followed by silent h and an accented vowel (e.g. exhaust, exam); usually at the beginnings of words (e.g. xylophone, Xenon), and in some compounds keeps the sound, as in (e.g. meta-xylene). It also makes the sound 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 or , for example, in the words luxury and sexual, respectively: these result from earlier and . Final x is always (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 exclusive-or).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. , silent (or in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel). This usage arose as a handwriting alteration of final -us. Two exceptions are pronounced : six and dix. It is pronounced in sixième and dixième. In Italian, X is always pronounced , 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". An exception occurs in the archaic spelling of the Venetian dialect, where it represents , example: . In Norwegian, X is generally pronounced , 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 German and Finnish is similar. , X was pronounced , as it is still currently in other Iberian Romance languages. Later, the sound evolved to a hard sound. In modern Spanish, the hard 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 (word-initially), or the consonant cluster (e.g. oxígeno, examen). Even rarer, the x can be pronounced like in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as Raxel (a variant of Rachel) and Uxmal. Galician and Leonese language: In Galician (a language related to Portuguese and spoken in Northwestern Spain), and Leonese, in Spain, x is pronounced in most cases. In learned words, such as 'taxativo' (taxative), the x is pronounced . However, Galician speakers tend to pronounce it as , especially when it appears in implosive position, such as in 'externo' (extern). In Catalan, x can have three sounds; the most common is ; as in 'xarop' (syrup). Other sounds are: ; 'fixar' (to fix), ; 'examen'. In addition gets voiced before voiced consonants; 'caixmir'. There is also in Catalan the digraph tx, pronounced . In Portuguese, x can have four sounds: the most common is , as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: as in 'fênix/fénix' (phoenix) and , as in 'próximo' (close/next). The rarest is , as in 'exagerado' (exaggerate). Venetian:it represented the voiced alveolar fricative much like in Portuguese 'exagerado', English 'xylophone' or in the French liaison. Examples from medieval texts include 'raxon' (reason), 'prexon' (prison), 'dexerto' (desert), 'chaxa/caxa' (home, It. "casa"). Nowadays, the most known word is 'xe' (is/are). In Albanian, x represents , while the digraph xh represents . In Maltese x is pronounced or, in some cases, (only in loanwords such as 'televixin', and not for all speakers)
Additionally, in languages for which the Latin alphabet 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 has its IPA value in e.g. Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Tatar and Lojban. Esperanto: The x-convention replaces ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ with cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, and ux. In Hanyu Pinyin, a transcription system for Mandarin Chinese, the letter x represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative . This sound somewhat resembles . In Hindi, it may represent the sound in alternate spellings of words containing क्ष, especially names such as Laxmi or Madhuri Dixit. In Nahuatl, x represents . Nguni languages: represents the alveolar lateral click . In Pashto, x represents . In Pirahã, x symbolizes the glottal stop . In Vietnamese, x is pronounced
In Japan, Ⓧ is a symbol used for resale price maintenance.
The ASCII code for capital X is 88 and for lowercase x is 120; or in binary 01011000 and 01111000, correspondingly.
The EBCDIC code for capital X is 231 and for lowercase x is 167.
The numeric character references in HTML and XML are "X" and "x" for upper and lower case respectively.
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