def x_ian(x, word):
    """
    Given a string x, returns True if all the letters in x are
    contained in word in the same order as they appear in x.

    >>> x_ian('eric', 'meritocracy')
    True
    >>> x_ian('eric', 'cerium')
    False
    >>> x_ian('john', 'mahjong')
    False

    x: a string
    word: a string
    returns: True if word is x_ian, False otherwise
    """
    if len(x)>len(word):
        return False
    if len(x)==0:
        return True
    else:
        if x[0]==word[0]:
            return x_ian(x[1:],word[1:])
        else:
            return x_ian(x,word[1:])