Here’s a holiday surprise that only the dictionary can provide. Do you find the word Xmas, xmas food an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do, but the origin of this controversial term might change your mind! You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards.

Some people associate Xmas with the holiday as a commercial, secular occasion instead of as a particular cultural and religious ritual. But, the history of the word Xmas is actually more respectable—and fascinating—than you might suspect. It was first used in the mid-1500s. Other abbreviations for Christ include Xt and Xp, the P here representing the Greek letter rho, source of our letter R. In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word Christian.

Xmas comes from the Old English word for mass, as in a church service, especially one in the Roman Catholic Church including a celebration of the Eucharist. As lovers of the alphabet, we are transfixed by the flexibility of X. Does the 24th letter of the alphabet exhilarate you? Find out what else hides behind the X, here.

What Is The Medical Term For Fainting? This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms. Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Wikipedia. Xmas, where the X actually represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Khrīstos, “Christ.