What’s so mystifying about the letter “X?”
For starters, the swastika X—or cross—has come to symbolize the very essence of evil. And the letter, as signified by the skull and crossbones, portrays death by poison. Yet it also represents virtue and eternal life in being employed as an abbreviation for Christ in Xmas, and for Christianity generally. Such a curious dichotomy only hints at the many convoluted complexities of a letter seemingly “designed” to beguile us with contradictory connotations.
In this post, I’ll attempt the unusually challenging task of organizing the various meanings of this strangest, and most alluring, of letters. “X” may take up less space in the dictionary than any of its 23 compatriots but, in terms of its diverse uses, it’s a letter that defines, well, overcompensation. For it seems, waywardly, to want to sprawl out in every direction imaginable. As such, it rigorously resists all attempts to restrain it.
Nonetheless, I’ve sought here to somehow “rein it in,” to make this piece as comprehensible as possible, so as not to overwhelm the reader with the almost dizzying functions that, over the centuries, the letter has taken on.
Because it’s been employed in so many fields—from algebra, to genetics, to aerospace, to sex and spirituality—X’s abundant meanings have almost everything to do with the context that engages it. So in my efforts to categorize its disparate functions, I’ve struggled to find groupings that might accommodate its perversely “wandering,” or unstable, nature. Which is why some of my categories may seem arbitrary, and also why my last segment highlights its heterodoxy through the grabbag heading of “miscellaneous symbology.” For unquestionably, the broad array of meanings associated with “X” make all the other letters of the alphabet seem mundane—or puny—by comparison.
Even within contexts—say, the field of sports—X’s meaning can vary substantially. So, for example, a strike in baseball is not a good thing for a batter (and a strikeout even worse). But in bowling, a strike is a very good thing, for it means knocking down all 10 pins—or should I say “X pins” since, after all, X is the Roman numeral for 10. Moreover, an overall score of all X’s represents nothing short of bowling perfection (comparable to batting a 1,000!).
Finally, though, my proper function here isn’t to resolve the many incongruities surrounding this most captivating of letters but, more modestly, simply to enumerate them.
Read More: What’s So Fascinating About the Letter X?
