Doxing, Not Doxxing

Both “doxing” and “doxxing” are in use, but I want to argue in favor of the one-x spelling, for a simple reason: It’s more consistent with the norms of standard English.

To my knowledge, no other standard English words (not counting brand names such as Exxon, or English renderings of Roman numerals) have an “xx” in them. And while the last letter of a verb is sometimes doubled before “-ing” (e.g., “popping,” “hitting,” and “tanning”), that isn’t done for verbs that end with an “x”: We write “boxing,” “mixing,” and “taxing,” not “boxxing,” “mixxing,” and “taxxing.”

I appreciate that this is an aesthetic preference, not some rigid law. If enough fellow English speakers come to prefer “doxxing,” that will become the standard spelling. But at this early stage, I want to urge people to go with normal English practice.

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