Alphabe-Thursday - The Letter X

It's time again for Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by our teacher Mrs. Jenny Matlock over at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent." Head over to Mrs. Matlock's blog for a list of this week's students.

We've been brain dead this week. We put our heads together for this one and studied all week. The kids even studied during lunch with their XYZ books.


We'd hate to flunk, so we had to come up with something.

How about a handy list of Scrabble words with the letter X? Personally, I hate getting the letter X even if it is worth more points. I feel like I have to somehow get rid of the letter X as quickly as possible so I don't get stuck with it at the end of the game. Having the letter X is stressful. So here are some words containing the letter X that you can start memorizing before the next Scrabble game.

AXE
BOX
COX
DEX
FAX
FIX
FOX
GOX
HEX
KEX
LAX
LEX
LOX
LUX
MAX
MIX
NIX
OXO
OXY
PAX
PIX
POX
PYX
RAX
REX
SAX
SEX
SIX
SOX
TAX
TUX
VEX
VOX
WAX
XIS
ZAX

(Note: Spell Check had a problem with some of the above words, but I found them all on Hasbros website.)

We also found some interesting X words in the Dictionary. It's fun broadening our vocabularies.

Here's a little test. See if you know the definitions for the following words:

1. XANTHOPHYLL

2. XYLOTOMY

3. XENOPHOBIA

The answers will appear at the bottom of this post.

(Note: Spell Check had a problem with a couple of these words too, but I found them in the New World Dictionary Of The American Language, Second College Edition.)

Then there's the x-ray. In doing some research I learned that it was discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen in 1895. You can read the complete history here. What really surprised me was how long X-rays have been around. They certainly play an important diagnostic role in medicine.

I've shown one of my son's X-rays before, but since we're studying the letter X and X-rays this week I'll show it again along with another one. These X-rays were the first ones taken on October 13, 2009. He was eventually diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but thanks to Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen within minutes we knew he had more than just bronchitis and a back ache.



And this is a normal chest X-ray that I found online.



Don't forget they're using X-ray technology for the "virtual strip searches" at certain airports. They now can see more than we would probably like them to see. There's a picture and article here. It's a controversial subject.

I found the cutest bag to take on the plane. The X-ray Tote has X-ray images of what you might be carrying in your bag. Click here to take a look.

Now for the answers:

1. XANTHOPHYLL-n. a yellow crystalline pigment found in plants

2. XYLOTOMY-n. the preparations of sections of wood for microscopic inspection

3. XENOPHOBIA-n. fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners


How did you do? I knew you'd pass my little test. Mrs. Matlock will be so proud. Congratulations!