Merry Xmas

For the Italian frogman unit "Xª MAS", see Decima Flottiglia MAS . For the 2015 film, see Xmas (film) .
"Merry Xmas" redirects here. For the 2015 short film, see Merry Xmas (film) .

A 1922 Ladies' Home Journal advertisement using "Xmas".
Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. It is sometimes pronounced / ˈɛksməs/ , but Xmas , and variants such as Xtemass , originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation / ˈkrɪsməs/ . The "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi , which is the first letter of the Greek word
Χριστός , which in English is "Christ".[1] The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.[2]
There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas [3] by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas", but its use dates back to the 16th century.
Style guides and etiquette
"Xmas" is deprecated by some modern
style guides , including those at the
New York Times , [4] The Times , The Guardian , and the BBC .[5] Millicent Fenwick , in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette , states that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards. [6]
The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage states that the spelling should be considered informal and restricted to contexts where concision is valued, such as headlines and greeting cards. [7] The Christian Writer's Manual of Style , while acknowledging the ancient and respectful use of "Xmas" in the past, states that the spelling should never be used in
formal writing .