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6 Answers
- Mary75Lv 68 years agoFavorite Answer
Christmas is a combination of two words: Christ's Mass.
In ancient Greek, the letter that was used to represent the
first sound in the word 'Christ' looked like the English letter
'X'. With the passage of time, the Greeks began to represent
the word 'Christ' using a single letter - X (pronounced 'chi').
As early as the 16th century, native speakers of English
began to write 'Christmas' as 'Xmas'. There are many people
even today who object to this.
Letter 'x' stands for 'times' and has become the symbol of multiplication
operation. In mathematics it is frequently used for an independent variable or
an unknown quantity.
HUGS AND KISSES is a term for a sequence of the letters X and O, e.g. XOXO, typically used to express affection or good friendship at the end of a written letter or email.
It is debatable which letter represents which act. The most common interpretation assumes that X represents the four lips of a kiss and O the four arms of a hug. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary states that X is "used to represent a kiss, esp. in the subscription to a letter.". A less common interpretation assumes X as the crossed arms of a hug and O as the puckered lips of a kiss. Additionally, there is a more simple interpretation, based on the pronunciation of the letters X (sounds like 'kiss') and O (sounds like 'hold', as in 'I hold you').
Some celebrities sign an autograph and add "xoxo" to their signature in order to express love to a fan.
The use of XOXO goes back to the use of an X or cross, which was considered as good as a sworn oath in times before most people could write and therefore used the X in the same way a signature is used today — a mark of one's word. An X at the end of a letter or document was often kissed as a seal of honesty, in much the same way one would kiss a Bible or kiss the fingers after making the sign of the Christian cross. Thus the X came to represent a kiss in modern times.
The "X" was also the ancient Paleo Hebrew letter Tav, and was a symbol of the Seal of Hashem (God) and it represented truth, completeness, and perfection.
The origins of the O as a hug are not generally known, although it is speculated that it may represent the arms wrapped around someone being hugged.-
- Anonymous8 years ago
X stands for the cross on which Christ died.
- Anonymous5 years ago
Yes, we are aware of that. The X and fish symbol were commonly used in the early days as a symbol as outright declaration of being a Christian was dangerous in the Roman empire. We no longer have to hide, therefore using the correct term is preferred.
- FrankLv 78 years ago
x stands for kisses, commonly seen in xox
X is used to represent the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter in Christos, the Greek word for Christ.




