Xmas
name, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 plural of XMA form-of, plural
- 2 Alternative form of Xmas. alt-of, alternative, informal
- 3 a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ; a quarter day in England, Wales, and Ireland wordnet
- 1 Abbreviation of Christmas. abbreviation, alt-of, informal
"N:Castle (Xmassing and wanted at play)"
- 1 Abbreviation of Christmas. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, informal, uncountable
"In ye Xmas and Whitsuntide Vacations, ye Scholars study at a rate of an hour and a Quarter each day & all yt go home have proportionable Tasks set them..."
Example
More examples"Some Christians object to calling Christmas Xmas because Christ is left out."
Etymology
Attested in this form since 1755, and preceded by earlier forms such as X'temmas (1551) and Old English Χp̃es mæssa (1100), from Cristes mæsse, with abbreviation of Cristes by the symbol X, orthographic borrowing from Ancient Greek Χ (Kh, letter chi), from Χριστός (Khristós, “Christ”). By surface analysis, X (“Christ”) + -mas (“holiday”). In popular use since late 19th century. See Wikipedia for more information.
Related phrases
More for "xmas"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.