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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Xmas

Audio Help [kris-muh

s or, often, eks-muh

s] Pronunciation Key

Christmas.

—Usage note The abbreviation Xmas for Christmas dates from the mid 16th century. The X is the Greek letter chi, the initial in the word Χριστός (Christos) “Christ.” In spite of a long and respectable history, today Xmas is offensive to many, perhaps because of its associations with advertising. It is not used in formal writing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Xmas

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

X·mas Audio Help (krĭs'məs, ěks'məs) Pronunciation Key
n. Christmas.

[From X, the Greek letter chi, first letter of Greek Khrīstos, Christ; see Christ.]

Usage Note: Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστoς, "Christ." In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, "Christian." But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ěks'məs). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Xmas

"Christmas," 1551, X'temmas, wherein the X is an abbreviation for Christ in Christmas, from first letter of Gk. Christos "Christ" (see Christ). The earlier way to abbreviate it was Xp- or Xr-, corresponding to "Chr-," and the form Xres mæsse for "Christmas" appears in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (c.1100).

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