xmas

Xmas (also X-mas) is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. It is sometimes pronounced , but Xmas, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation . The "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós (Greek: Χριστός), which became Christ in English.
The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secularizing tendency to de-emphasize the religious tradition from Christmas, by "taking the Christ out of Christmas"; nevertheless, this usage dates back to the 16th century, with the "X" deriving from the New-Testament Greek spelling of "christos" (meaning roughly "[the] anointed [one]"), and corresponds to Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Church of England, and Episcopalian liturgical use of various forms of chi-rho monogram.

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