Learn English – the meaning of the ‘x’ character suffix
meaningsuffixes
The sentence is “2x to 100x speed-ups, typically 4x”.
Best Answer
The x here is a way to write down the multiplication symbol ×. It means “times”, as in “speeds-up of 2 to 100 times, typically 4 times”.
The use of x to mark the symbol is a remains of the times typewriter were widely used, when the closest approximation to the handwritten multiplication operator was the lowercase letter x. Nowadays, all devices can cope with the multiplication sign itself (×), which is part of many post-ASCII character sets, and is of course included in Unicode as U+00D7 MULTIPLICATION SIGN.
It stands for "(advanced) skill". There are lots of similar constructions, such as "Script-Fu", "Google-Fu", and so on. Wiktionary has an article on the suffix -fu:
Etymology
From kung-fu
Suffix
1. (slang) Expertise; mastery.
My google-fu is weak!
Aragorn uses Ranger-fu to figure out that Sam and Frodo have taken a boat.
Your Google-fu probably fails because the suffix is "-ior", not -"erior". For example, there are the words "excelsior", "senior", "junior".
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology says:
-ior formerly also -iour — F. -ieur, † -iour — L. iōrem, nom. -ior, suffix of compar. of adj., as in anterior, exterior, inferior, interior, junior, posterior, senior, ulterior. In warrior the ending has another origin.
Best Answer
The x here is a way to write down the multiplication symbol ×. It means “times”, as in “speeds-up of 2 to 100 times, typically 4 times”.
The use of x to mark the symbol is a remains of the times typewriter were widely used, when the closest approximation to the handwritten multiplication operator was the lowercase letter x. Nowadays, all devices can cope with the multiplication sign itself (×), which is part of many post-ASCII character sets, and is of course included in Unicode as U+00D7 MULTIPLICATION SIGN.