Word.ws English Dictionary

-x

/ks/

-x suffix: used to represent a value that may vary: see x.

Suffix (1)

-x

  1. Used to represent a value that may vary: see x.
    • I teach all of the 30x classes.

Suffix (2)

-x

  1. (US, informal) Used to replace a /ks/ sound, especially in monosyllabic words ending in -cks or -ks.
    • blax (“blacks”), clox (“clocks”), fax (“facts”), folx (“folks”), hax (“hacks”), pix (“pics”), punx (“punks”), shox (“shocks”), snax (“snacks”), sox (“socks”), stix (“sticks”), tix (“tickets”), trax (“tracks”)

Suffix (3)

-x

  1. An abbreviation marker.
    • Dx (“diagnosis”), elex (“election”), Hx (“history”), pax (“passenger”), RX (“receive”), TX (“transmit”)

Suffix (4)

-x

  1. (neologism) Used to replace a gendered suffix.
    • alumnx, Chicanx, Latinx

Suffix (5) capitalized: -X

-X

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of -cross.

Origin of -x

The letter x is prototypically pronounced [ks] in English; it therefore serves as a convenient shorthand for the digraphs (cs, ks, etc.) or trigraphs (cks etc.) that would otherwise represent that consonant cluster.

From the use of x as a neutral or nonspecific placeholder.

Words formed from -x

Questions about -x

What does -x mean?
-x means used to represent a value that may vary: see x.
What part of speech is -x?
-x is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -x?
-x is pronounced /ks/.

Words near -x in the dictionary

  1. -woman
  2. -women
  3. -work
  4. -worth
  5. -worthy
  6. -x
  7. -x-
  8. -xaban
  9. -xeny
  10. -ximab
  11. -xizu-

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -x (page history and authors); -X (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “-x.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-x. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.