ORIGINAL: Tom Nied

''Xmas'' and ''X-mas'' are common abbreviations of the word ''Christmas''. They are sometimes pronounced /ˈɛksməs/, but they, and variants such as ''Xtemass'', originated as handwriting abbreviations for the correct pronunciation /ˈkrɪsməs/. The ''-mas'' part came from the Latin-derived Old English word for ''mass''.[1] The ''X'' in Xmas is from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χριστός, Christ in Greek