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The 'X' comes from the Greek letter 'Chi' which is the first letter of the Greek word that translates as Christ. Xmas was used in print in the mid 1700's and from the early 1900's passed into more common usage. To many people Xmas represents the growing level of commercialism in the world as compared with the sad demise of Christmas as an important Christian festival

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Q: How does the greek letter x relate to the x in xmas?
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Where does the abbreviation Xmas come from?

X comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter in the Greek word which means Christ.


Is abbreviating Christmas as xmas disrespectful?

It is disrespectful only if you mispronounce it Eksmas. In the abbreviation Xmas (pronounced "Christmas"), the X- is not the Roman letter x. It is the Greek letter chi, which is long-established as a proper abbreviation for Christ.


Is the X in XMAS a religious symbol?

Sort of: it's the first letter in Χριστός, the Greek spelling of Christ.


Are the terms Xmas and Christmas the same?

Yes, Xmas is another way of writing Christmas.The use of Xmas goes back centuries. X has been used in religious writings as a shorthand or abbreviation, where X represents chi in the Greek alphabet. Chi is the first letter in the Greek spelling of the word Christ.


What alphabet does abbreviation xmas come from?

The x in Xmas represents the Greek letter chi, which is the initial letter of Christos - the Greek for Christ.Christians came to use X as a symbol, and it crept into the English language as a shorthand. From there it became more generally used.Xian for Christian and Xmas for Christmas are customary shorthand when religious writers are writing articles and books, and it gets 'corrected' by the tyepsetters.


What does the X in Xmas mean?

Originally the X was not an X as we use it in the English alphabet; it was the Greek letter chi which looks very similar to an X. The Greek letter X (chi) is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Xristos ( Χριστός) so Xmas therefore means "Christ's Mass" which is what the word Christmas actually means. For more information, please refer to the related question below.


What is a winter word that starts with the letter x?

xmas


Why do you storten Christmas to xmas?

Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas.The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass,while the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as "Christ".There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas".


Does X-mas only mean Christmas?

The abbreviation 'Xmas' for Christmas is of Greek origin. The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood that X stood for Christ's name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook "Xmas" as a sign of disrespect.Read more: When_did_Christmas_become_X-MasWell argued but too fulsome. The X is the greek letter chi which is the simplest abbreviation of Christ.


Does the term Xmas have any other meaning apart from Christmas?

It has no other common meaning because Xmas is the common abbreviation of the word Christmas.The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass,while the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as "Christ".There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas".


Ancient greek word starting with x?

The letter X was the symbol of their letter called Chi. So one word would be Christos (Christ), which is the reason that Christmas (Christ's Mass) is often abbreviated to Xmas.


What is the abbreviation of Christmas?

The abbreviation of Christmas is Xmas. That is because what we now recognised in the English language as an X was originally the Greek letter "chi". In the Greek alphabet the letter chi is the first letter of the word Christ and it was used long ago by religious clerics in Christian writings as a kind of shorthand for the word Christ. So the word Xmas means Christ's Mass in exactly the same way that Christmas does. Xmas should also be pronounced in the same way as Christmas.