CHRISTMAS VOCABULARY (XMAS)

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a good day. 

This week we are looking at vocabulary related to Christmas.

Today we look at an abbreviation of Christmas: XMAS (or X-MAS)

People often write Xmas instead of Christmas, to save time. And over the years some people have thought that “Xmas” is a modern attempt by atheists to remove the religious tradition from Christmas—essentially taking the “Christ” out of Christmas. However, the "X" is actually a Greek letter (Chi) and the first letter of the Greek word "Χριστóç", which in English means "Christ."

I don't necessarily recommend that you use Xmas when you write, as it is considered quite informal, but you should be aware of it. It's also true that sometimes you hear people pronounce Xmas as /'eksmes/ instead of Christmas.

Example 1: I hope you have a very merry Xmas.

Although Xmas is a couple of weeks away, today I want to wish you a very happy holiday season. 

I'll see you tomorrow with some more Christmas-related vocabulary. 

Have a great day!