How Do You Pronounce The Letter "x" In Most Spanish Words?

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HomeQ&AHow do you pronounce the letter "x" in most spanish words?How do you pronounce the letter "x" in most spanish words?1vote

How do you pronounce the letter "x" in Spanish?

47953 viewsupdated Jul 30, 2013posted by kgoff

3 Answers

3votes

Letter X in Spanish has a h sound. Example: Mexico=mejico

Letter X in Nahuatl has an sh sound. Example: Xochimilco =shochimilco

updated Jul 31, 2013posted by Nahua3votes

I copied this from Lazarus' Reference article:

Between vowels or at the end of a word, it sounds like “ks”, as it does in English, although it is normal to relax the pronunciation, and make it sound like “gs”, and in Spain, sometimes like an “s”. This also happens in some English words, like “exam”. At the beginning of a word, it sounds like an “s”.

In medieval Spanish, the “x” was used completely differently: instead of having a “ks” sound, it represented the sound of the modern Spanish “j”, and this can be seen in a few place names, like Mexico, Oaxaca or Texas, that in modern Spanish should have been written as “Méjico”, “Oajaca” and “Tejas”, but since the original spelling is part of their heritage, they keep spelling these with an “x” even though it is pronounced like a Spanish “j”.

updated Jul 30, 2013posted by --Mariana--0votes

There are some 'x' sounds that actually are held over from some of the indigenous languages in the Americas that have different sound systems from Spanish.

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