English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

"X" Word Origins

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

“X” Word Origins

A shortened, casual form of the brand name Xanax.

From the real Xanadu, the Yuan dynasty's summer capital in Mongolia, romanized via Marco Polo's travels; the word became a byword for splendor after Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797 poem "Kubla Khan" ("In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree").

A trademarked name coined by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for the drug alprazolam.

From the Basque place name "Etxeberria," meaning "the new house."

Shortened from "DirectX box," referencing Microsoft's DirectX graphics technology, used since the console's 2000 announcement.

An emoticon read sideways: X depicts eyes shut tight, D depicts a wide open mouth.

Popularized by the 1990s television show Xena: Warrior Princess; the name itself is likely a variant of Xenia, from Greek xenía, "hospitable."

Borrowed via New Latin xenia from Ancient Greek xenía, "hospitality," itself from xénos, "stranger, guest, foreigner."

From Ancient Greek xénos, "strange, foreign," plus the "-on" ending used for noble gases — so named because it is rare and unreactive.

From xeno- + -philic.

From Greek xenos "stranger, foreigner" and phobos "fear", formed on the model of other -phobia words.

From Greek xenos, meaning stranger or foreigner, and phobos, meaning fear.

A genericized trademark from the Xerox Corporation, whose name comes from "xerography" (Greek xērós, "dry," + graphḗ, "writing") — a dry photocopying process.

From xerox + -er.

From Ancient Greek Ξέρξης (Xérxēs), from Old Persian 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 (x-š-y-a-r-š-a /⁠Xšayāršā⁠/, “ruler among kings”). Doublet of Ahasuerus.

From the Ancient Greek letter name xeî/xî.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 夏 (Xià).

c. late 20th c., from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Chinese 西安 (Xī'ān, “Western Peace”), without syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號／隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 湘 (Xiāng).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 向陽 /向阳 (Xiàngyáng).

From Mandarin 簫/箫 (xiāo).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 孝義 /孝义 (Xiàoyì).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 謝 /谢 (xiè).

From several Chinese surnames, including Mandarin 辛 (Xīn), 信 (Xìn), 新 (Xīn).

From x- as short for cross- in crossing.

From Hokkien 傷 /伤 (siong). The spelling with x is Pinyin-based.

From xls, the older extension for a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, plus x for XML, the text-based system used to store the file's contents.

An initialism of extensible markup language, so named because users define their own tags rather than being limited to a fixed set.

In the sign-off sense, from the written symbols X for a kiss and O for a hug; in the brandy sense, an abbreviation of extra old.

A repetition of the written symbols X for a kiss and O for a hug.

Borrowed from Vietnamese xu, itself from French sou.

From the Chinese surname, from Mandarin 薛 (xuē, “type of grass; name of an ancient state, fief”). More at Xue.

From Mandarin 塤/埙 (xūn).

The pornography sense comes from the US film rating "X," introduced in 1968 for adult content; posters exaggerated it to "XXX" to imply something even more extreme. The "kisses" sense is unrelated, from the letter X historically representing a kiss on letters.

From X chromosome.

From Greek xylo-, "wood," and -phone, "sound" — literally "wood sound."