question: Why are there so few words that begin with the letter X?
comment: Its not a good letter traditionally to lead off with because it is very unnatural off of the tongue. Most instances have the x following another letter which helps to segway into it. "Experience, Example, Axe, Axis)
passages: X
  
  X (named "ex" , plural "exes") is the 24th and antepenultimate letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet.
  
  Section::::History.
   BULLET::::- In Old Spanish, was pronounced , as it is still currently in other Iberian Romance languages. Later, the sound evolved to a hard sound. In modern Spanish, due to a spelling reform, whenever is used for the sound it has been replaced with , including in words that originally had such as "ejemplo" or "ejercicio", though is still retained for some names (notably 'México', even though 'Méjico' may sometimes be used in Spain). Presently, represents the sound (word-initially), or the consonant cluster (e.g. "oxígeno, examen"). Rarely, it can be pronounced as in Old Spanish in some proper nouns such as 'Raxel' (a variant of Rachel) and "Uxmal".
   There are very few English words that start with (the fewest of any letter). When does start a word, it is usually pronounced (e.g. "xylophone", "xenophobia", and "xanthan"); in rare recent loanwords or foreign proper names, it can also be pronounced (e.g. the obsolete Vietnamese monetary unit "xu") or (e.g. Chinese names starting with Xi like Xiaomi or Xinjiang). Many of the words that start with are of Greek origin, or standardized trademarks ("Xerox") or acronyms ("XC"). In abbreviations, it can represent "trans-" (e.g. "XMIT" for transmit, "XFER" for transfer), "cross-" (e.g. "X-ing" for crossing, "XREF" for cross-reference), "Christ-" as shorthand for the labarum (e.g. "Xmas" for Christmas, "Xian" for Christian), the "crys-" in crystal ("XTAL"), or various words starting with "ex-" (e.g. "XL" for extra large, "XOR" for exclusive-or).
   X is the third least frequently used letter in English (after and ), with a frequency of about 0.15% in words.
  
  Section::::Use in writing systems.:Other languages.
  
  In Latin, stood for . In some languages, as a result of assorted phonetic changes, handwriting adaptations or simply spelling convention, has other pronunciations:
  
  BULLET::::- In Basque, represents . Additionally there is the digraph .
   Additionally, in languages for which the Latin alphabet has been adapted only recently, has been used for various sounds, in some cases inspired by European usage, but in others, for consonants uncommon in Europe. For these no Latin letter stands out as an obvious choice, and since most of the various European pronunciations of can be written by other means, the letter becomes available for more unusual sounds.
  
  BULLET::::- represents (voiceless velar fricative) in e.g. Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Lojban, Tatar, Uzbek, Pashto and Uyghur (Latin script).
   The letter "q" in German appears only in the sequence "qu" () except for loanwords such as "Coq au vin" or "Qigong" (the latter is also written "Chigong").
  
  The letter "x" ("Ix", ) occurs almost exclusively in loanwords such as "Xylofon" (xylophone) and names, e.g. "Alexander" and "Xanthippe". Native German words now pronounced with a sound are usually written using "chs" or "(c)ks", as with "Fuchs" (fox). Some exceptions occur such as "Hexe" (witch), "Nixe" (mermaid), "Axt" (axe) and "Xanten".
   In English orthography, is typically pronounced as the voiceless consonant cluster when it follows the stressed vowel (e.g. "ox"), and the voiced consonant when it precedes the stressed vowel (e.g. "exam"). It is also pronounced when it precedes a silent and a stressed vowel (e.g. "exhaust"). Before or , it can be pronounced or (e.g. "sexual" and "luxury"); these result from earlier and . It also makes the sound in words ending in "-xion" (typically used only in British-based spellings of the language; American spellings tend to use "-ction"). When ends a word, it is always (e.g. "fax"), except in loan words such as "faux" (see French, below).
   In mathematics, "x" is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The modern tradition of using "x" to represent an unknown was introduced by René Descartes in "La Géométrie" (1637). As a result of its use in algebra, X is often used to represent unknowns in other circumstances (e.g. X-rays, Generation X, "The X-Files", and "The Man from Planet X"; see also Malcolm X).
  
  On some identification documents, the letter X represents a non-binary gender, where F means female and M means male.
   BULLET::::- "x" represented the consonant cluster . In Old Latin, this sequence was also spelled as "ks", "cs", and "xs". X was borrowed from the Western Greek alphabet, in which the letterform of chi Χ was pronounced as . In the standard Ionic alphabet, used for modern editions of Ancient Greek, on the other hand, Χ represented , and the letter xi Ξ represented .
   BULLET::::- In Polish, was used prior to 19th century both in loanwords and native words and was pronounced or , e.g. "xiążę", "xięstwo" (now "książę", "księstwo"). Later was replaced by and in all words and remained only in surnames as Axentowicz, Jaxa, Koxowski, Mixtacki, Rexemowski, Xiężopolski, names as Xawery, Xymena and abbreviations.
   A /x/ is still heard in words of the above type in certain Scots and northern English traditional dialect speech. A /x/ is more commonly heard – especially in the Celtic countries, but also for many speakers elsewhere – in the word "loch" and in certain proper names such as "Buchan".
  
  For details of the above phenomena, see H-loss (Middle English). See also the vocalization of the voiced velar fricative.
  
  Section::::Fricatives and affricates.:Voiced/voiceless splits.
   Section::::X.
  
   is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the supposed fricative .
  
  , in Albanian, represents the sound of the voiced postalveolar affricate consonant , as in the surname "Hoxha" . In Pashto too it represents . In Zulu and Xhosa it represents the voiceless aspirated alveolar lateral click , for example in the name of the language "Xhosa" . In Walloon to write a sound that is variously or , depending on the dialect. In Canadian Tlingit it represents , which in Alaska is written "x̱."
  
  Section::::Y.
   In the 17th and 18th centuries, "Xene" and "Exene" were common spellings for the given name Christine. The American singer Christina Aguilera has sometimes gone by the name "Xtina". Similarly, Exene Cervenka has been a noted American singer-songwriter since 1977.
   English speakers, unfamiliar with names beginning with "X", sometimes pronounce "Xavier" as "ex-avier". This pronunciation is sometimes used for fictional characters, such as Charles Xavier, leader of the fictional X-Men, however it is not incorrect to pronounce it this way when considering its Basque origin or that many 'X' words derive in English from the Greek phonetics, which pronounce it as a 'Ks' sound.
  
  Section::::In other languages.
  
  BULLET::::- Asturian: Xabel
  
  BULLET::::- Basque: Xabier
  
  BULLET::::- Castilian: Javier
  
  BULLET::::- Catalan Xavier
  
  BULLET::::- English: Xavier
  
  BULLET::::- French: Xavier
  
  BULLET::::- Gaeilge: Savy (Reference needed)
  
  BULLET::::- Galician: Xabier
  
  BULLET::::- German: Xaver ()
   X (disambiguation)
  
  X is the 24th letter of the Latin alphabet.
  
  X may also refer to:
  
  Section::::Art, entertainment, and media.
  
  Section::::Art, entertainment, and media.:Fictional entities.
  
  BULLET::::- "X" (Dark Horse Comics), a character and series by Dark Horse Comics
  
  BULLET::::- X ("The X-Files"), a character from the television series "The X-files"
  
  BULLET::::- Mega Man X (character) (also known as "X"), the protagonist in the "Mega Man X" video game series
  
  BULLET::::- Radio X (), the radio station from "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas"
  
  BULLET::::- X, a symbol used on treasure maps in fiction to show the location of the hidden treasure
   BULLET::::- "y" (alif maksura ى) used to spell "ā" at the ends of some words: This arose because "ā" arising from contraction where single "y" dropped out between vowels was in some dialects pronounced at the ends of words with the tongue further forward than for other "ā" vowels, and as a result in the Qu'ran it was written as "y".
   BULLET::::- : Gothic letter enguz, which derives from Greek Chi
  
  BULLET::::- 𐌗 : Old Italic X, which derives from Greek Chi, and is the ancestor of modern Latin X
  
  BULLET::::- : Runic letter Gyfu, which may derive from old Italic X
  
  BULLET::::- Ξ ξ : Greek letter Xi, which was used in place of Chi in the Eastern (and the modern) Greek alphabets
  
  Section::::Computing.
  
  Section::::Computing.:Computing codes.
  
  In the C programming language, "x" preceded by zero (as in 0x or 0X) is used to denote hexadecimal literal values.
  
  Section::::Computing.:Operating systems.
   The letter "x" usually represents the phoneme sequence . An exception to the correspondence of "x" with is the pronunciation of the "x" in some place names, especially in Mexico, such as and the name itself, reflecting an older spelling (see "Name of Mexico"). Some personal names, such as "Javier", "Jiménez", "Rojas", etc., also are occasionally spelled with "X": "Xavier", "Ximénez", "Roxas", etc. and the pronunciation of "x" is either or . A small number of words in Mexican Spanish retain the historical pronunciation, e.g. . In emphatic speech, "x" is pronounced , but in casual speech the , being syllable-final, can weaken to a voiced fricative or disappear altogether, especially when the "x" is followed by a consonant; the remaining will be "aspirated" to or elided in dialects with this trait. The tendency to delete the element is generally stronger in Spain than in the Spanish of Latin America. When the "x" is followed by "ce" or "ci" (e.g. , ), in dialects using "seseo" (see above), the of the sequence merges with the that corresponds to the letter "c", so "excelente" may be pronounced either , or . But in those areas of northern and central Spain that distinguish between the phonemes and , when the is not aspirated to or elided, "excelente" is pronounced or . If the "x" is followed by consonants, it may be pronounced or may merge as (e.g. , ); the latter pronunciation is true, because syllable-final position cannot be more than one consonant in informal sociolects, and in many cases, it is allowed even in the formal sociolects. Dialects that practice debuccalization of syllable-final (see above) treat the of a syllable-final (letter) "x" in the same way, so that "exclamar" is pronounced . 
   The letter 'Χ' ~ 'Ψ' for was a Greek addition to the alphabet, placed after the Semitic letters along with "phi" 'Φ' for .
  
  Section::::Use in writing systems.
  
  Section::::Use in writing systems.:English.
   The oldest direct ancestor of English letter Y was the Semitic letter "waw" (pronounced as [w]), from which also come F, U, V, and W. See F for details. The Greek and Latin alphabets developed from the Phoenician form of this early alphabet. In Modern English, there is also some historical influence from the old English letter "yogh" (Ȝȝ), which developed from the Semitic "gimel" (as described below).
  
  Section::::History.:Vowel.
   Brands' unusual use of a lone alphabetic character as a name derives from his family's history. In the small town in Germany where his ancestors once resided, there were two men named Jan Brands. One of them adopted the middle initial "X" to distinguish himself from the other Jan. He became known as "X" Brands, and the name continued to be used by his descendants who immigrated to America. In keeping with family tradition, no Brands could use the initial until the previous "X" had died.
   The names of numbers in the upper teens and the twenties were originally written as three words (e.g. " ", " y "), but nowadays they have come to be spelled predominantly as a single word (e.g. ', '). For the numbers from 21 to 29, the "fused" forms emerged over the second half of the 19th century. For those from 16 to 19, the one-word forms took the lead in the 1940s. Fusing of number-names above 30 (e.g. ', ') is rare.
  
  Section::::Orthography.:Reform proposals.
   BULLET::::- , silent (or in liaison if the next word starts with a vowel). Three exceptions are pronounced : "six" ("six"), "dix" ("ten") and in some city names such as "Bruxelles" (although some people pronounce it 'ks') or "Auxerre"; it is fully pronounced in Aix, the name of several towns. It is pronounced in "sixième" and "dixième". Otherwise or (primarily in words beginning with ex- followed by a vowel) .
   The common abbreviation "Xmas," for Christmas, is a remnant of an old scribal abbreviation that substituted the Greek letter chi (Χ, resembling Latin X and representing the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, Χριστος) for the word Christ.
  
  Section::::Forms.:Scribal sigla in modern use.:Church Slavonic.
   BULLET::::- In Portuguese, has four main sounds; the most common is , as in 'xícara' (cup). The other sounds are: as in 'flexão' (flexion); , when preceded by E and followed by a consonant, as in 'contexto' ( in European Portuguese), and in a small number of other words, such as 'próximo' (close/next); and (the rarest) , which occurs in the prefix 'ex-' before a vowel, as in 'exagerado' (exaggerated). A rare fifth sound is , coexisting with and as acceptable pronunciations in "exantema" and in words with the Greek prefix 'hexa-'.
  