![]() The 'O' is far more modern and is of North American descent. This also led to the practice of using the letter 'X', once again kissed, as a way of displaying a sacred oath. The Chi Rho, often represented in the simpler form of a letter 'X', was also used as a holy symbol throughout Christian history as it represented the Greek word for Christ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. You then placed a literal kiss upon the cross by the signer as a display of their sworn oath.Įven earlier, when most people could not read or write, the 'X' was placed on documents as a signature and a kiss placed upon it as a show of their sincerity. At that time, putting a Christian cross on documents or letters was supposed to signify sincerity, faith, and honesty. Putting X's on correspondence to mean kisses seems to date back to the Middle Ages. ![]() ![]() I did some searching online and there are far older and more complicated origin tales. I don't buy that origin story.īut hugs and kisses, as in XOXO, is a term used for expressing sincerity, faith, love, or good friendship at the end of a written correspondence and now in email or text messages. But why?Īccording to, looking at those characters as representing two people from a bird's eye view, makes the "O"into the arms of those persons hugging each other while the "X" is evocative of two people kissing each other. Have you ever added "hugs and kisses" to a card or letter by adding some X or O characters? It has come to be that O = Hug and X = Kiss.
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