X or x /eks/

1. The twenty-fourth letter in the modern English alphabet, twenty-first in the Roman, taken from the Chalcidian alphabet, and of the same form, though perhaps not the same origin, as Ionic and classical Greek chi (Χ, χ; pronounced /k-h/, and later /hh/)
2. Anything shaped like the letter X

—X was used in Old English medially and finally as a variant for cs. In modern English, medially and finally, it has the value of /ks/, as in extinct and axe, and, medially only, of /gz/, as in exist, or /ksh/, as usu in luxury, or /gzh/, as in luxurious; at the beginning of a word it is usu pronounced /z/, or (rarely) /gz/

X

1. (as a Roman numeral) 10
2. (also x or x) the first variable, unknown or yet to be ascertained quantity or factor (mathematics, etc)
3. Christ (see also chi¹), also used as an abbreviation, as in Xmas and Xian (Christian)
4. A former category of cinema film to which persons under eighteen were not admitted (superseded by the designation 18)
5. Used to indicate various other things, such as a choice on a ballot paper, an error on an examination paper, the signature of an illiterate person, etc, or a kiss

xˈ-axis noun (mathematics)

In a graph, the horizontal axis along which the x-coordinate is plotted. Cf y-axis, z-axis

Xˈ-body noun (botany)

An inclusion in a plant-cell suffering from a virus disease

Xˈ-chromosome noun

A chromosome associated with sex-determination, in mammals occurring paired in the female zygote and cell, and alone in the male zygote and cell

Xˈ-craft noun (historical)

A British midget submarine

Xˈ-factor noun

1. That part of a serviceman's or servicewoman's pay intended as compensation for the disruptions and disadvantages of life in the armed forces
2. An indefinable quality that sets a person or thing apart (informal)

Xˈ-generation another term for Generation X (see under generation).

xˈ-height noun (printing)

The height of a lower-case x, used as a measure of the height of a typeface

X-inactivāˈtion noun (biology)

The inactivation of one or other X-chromosome in female mammalian cells, with repression of most of the genes on the chromosome

Xˈ-particle noun

A meson

Xˈ-rated adjective

1. Of a film, in the former X category
2. Graphically violent or sexually explicit in content, language, etc

X-ray see separate entry.

X̄

(Roman numeral) 10000

x

Ex (Latin, without), as in xd, ex dividend

• preponderancies
• preponderancy
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