Fullwidth Latin Small Letter X

ｘ is the zenkaku (full-width) form of Latin lowercase x: it fills an East Asian character cell but remains the same letter. Use it in mixed-width Japanese text when its columns need to line up.

Text symbol

What ｘ means

It is x sized to fill a full East Asian cell.

In Japanese typography, the narrow x is hankaku (half-width); ｘ is its full-width counterpart. Japan's JIS C 6226-1978 character-set standard, later continued as JIS X 0208, begins the documented standards trail. It supported text formats storing East Asian characters in two bytes (computer storage units) and ASCII, the basic Latin character set, in one; full-width cells helped align mixed text on older displays that gave every character a set-width slot.

ｘ represents the Latin letter x. is the multiplication sign, a different symbol.

Who writes ｘ

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What it means when someone sends it to you

2 readings

Latin x takes a full East Asian character cell, lining up with the surrounding text.

Don't confuse it with

Latin Small Letter X

The narrow form of the same Latin letter; ｘ fills a full East Asian cell.

Multiplication Sign

The multiplication sign, not the Latin letter x.

Questions people ask

Why does ｘ show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.