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Is there a word that means 'an unknown phenomenon or concept'? Is it really referred whit the one letter word 'X'?

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thingamajig, whatsit –  GEdgar Mar 30 '12 at 21:28
There are so many words. Have a look at thing in the thesaurus. Also anything –  Matt Эллен Mar 30 '12 at 21:32
@GEdgar - Very intersting! Are they fractal words? –  user19148 Mar 30 '12 at 21:36
Can you give a lot more ...content to your questions? As is, it's difficult to know what you're thinking about. Give more details or an example. –  Mitch Mar 30 '12 at 21:36
I don't think this is constructive. OP clearly already knows X can be used in this way. If the unknown were a number, most people would call it N. If we knew something about it, we'd probably include that in the reference - an unknown substance, unidentified force, etc. –  FumbleFingers Mar 31 '12 at 0:05
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closed as not constructive by Matt Эллен, FumbleFingers, cornbread ninja 麵包忍者, Mitch, MrHen Apr 5 '12 at 4:59


2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Perhaps consider conundrum ("a difficult question or riddle"), enigma ("something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable"), and mystery ("something secret or unexplainable; unknown").

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Wow!!!!! Perfect!!!!!!!!!! –  user19148 Mar 30 '12 at 23:46
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Maybe you mean an unknown, the definition being:

  1. an unknown person, quantity, or thing
  2. (Mathematics) a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation; a variable in a conditional equation 3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns

And, yes, X is often used to stand for an unknown.

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oops! You are right, it is 'an unknown', not 'any unnamed'. I edited the question. –  user19148 Mar 30 '12 at 23:02
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