Christmas or Xmas
- Text - Christmas
- Fill-in Exercise
- Exercise: Find the pairs
- Exercise: Scrambled letters
- Crossword (download) - Answer
Why do people spell Xmas instead of Christmas
There are more reasons why people write "Xmas" instead of "Christmas". One reason is to be found in history.
In the Greek alphabet the letter c (Chi) is the first letter in the Greek word for "Christ". During the persecution of Christians the X was used a secret signs among the Christians.
In old publications "Xmas" is written instead of "Christmas".
"Christmas" means "the Mass of Christ". This is "Cristes maesse" in Old English.
The following words are used as well: (cnity=Christianity; cn=Christian)
Another reason is a practical one. "Xmas" is written faster than "Christmas". One can think that it is an invention of the advertising industry. "Xmas" is very common today.
