X
Radestrian
Etymology
Coined in the 1960s to resolve the dilemma of the extant prefix lenire· (“kilo-”) already having the symbol l. While L was not used as a symbol, the giga- and nano- pair were given the same letters in their respective case for consistency, via an additional stroke to the base letter, i.e. Ł and ł. These developed in written form to X and x, ultimately favoured for their disposition in the Radestrian alphabet and, also relevantly, keyboard layout. This development is comparable to the simultaneously coined symbols for aenire· (“tera-”) and aenirje· (“pico-”), Y and y, which developed from an original Ⱥ and ⱥ. See Y for the full development.
An identical approach was taken for the recently coined symbol for lienire· (“zetta-”) and lienirje· (“zepto-”), resulting in Ł and ł, respectively, which have since been standardised. Therefore, as a symbol, X is a doublet of Ł.
Symbol
X
- abbreviation of lirenire· (“giga-”, SI prefix)