# -x
## English
### Etymology 1
#### Suffix

-x
* Used to represent a value that may vary: see x.
    I teach all of the 30x classes. (referring to classes numbered 301, 302, 303, etc.)

### Etymology 2

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.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ks/

#### Suffix

-x
* (chiefly 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”), snax (“snacks”), sox (“socks”), stix (“sticks”), tix (“tickets”), trax (“tracks”)

#### See also

* -z

### Etymology 3

* This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “perhaps modelled after Rx (“prescription”) < ℞ < Latin recipe?”

#### Suffix

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

### Etymology 4

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

#### Suffix

-x
* (neologism) Used to replace a gendered suffix.
    alumnx, Chicanx, Latinx

#### See also

* x

## French
### Etymology

From a medieval ligature for -us, which looked similar to the letter x and was ultimately treated as identical to it. Thus Old French voyeus (“vowel”) was also spelt voyex, for instance. Later on the u was reinserted before the -x and this latter thus became an alternative spelling of -s in said position.

### Pronunciation

* Silent, except in liaison environments, when it may be pronounced /z‿/. This liaison is usual in adjectives, but fairly rare in nouns.

### Suffix

-x
* Used to form the regular plurals of nouns and adjectives in -au and -eu.
    dieu → dieux ― god → gods
    noyau → noyaux ― core → cores
    hébreu → hébreux ― Hebrew → Hebrews
* Used to form the irregular plurals of a few nouns in -ou (which regularly add -s).
    pou → poux ― louse → lice

#### Derived terms
### See also

* -s

### References

* ↑ A.H. Edgren: A compendious French grammar, Boston, 1890, p. 31

## Maltese
### Etymology

From Arabic شَيْء (šayʔ, “thing”). The same negation suffix is found in most North African and some Levantine dialects of Arabic.

### Suffix

-x
* Used together with the particle ma to negate verbs and adverbs
    jikteb → ma jiktibx ― he writes → he doesn’t write
* Used on its own or with the particle la to express a negated imperative
    tikteb → tiktibx or: la tiktibx ― you write → don't write

#### Usage notes

* A suffixed -x, etymologically from the same Arabic noun as the above, also occurs in a handful of Maltese words without a negative meaning, e.g. kollox (“everything”), aktarx (“rather, probably”), jekkx (“whether”).

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from English -x.

### Suffix

-x
* (now chiefly proscribed) a gender-neutral, normally not pronounced suffix that replaces -o and -a in nouns, adjectives and pronouns
    Synonym: -e
    Somos todxs um. ― We are all one.

#### Usage notes

* @ and -x have been gradually displaced by -e as gender-neutral suffixes in favor of users of text-to-speech and people with reading disorders.

## Spanish
### Suffix

-x gender-neutral (noun-forming suffix, plural -xs)
* (nonstandard, neologism) a gender-neutral suffix that replaces -o and -a in nouns, adjectives and pronouns