billion

bil-lion · numeral

imported

Definitions

numeral

  1. 1.

    The number 1,000,000,000 (one thousand million); 10^9.

  2. 2.

    [British, dated]One million million (10^12); now largely replaced by the American usage.

  3. 3.

    [informal]An extremely large but unspecified number.

Forms

plural: billions

Related words

See also: billionaire, million, trillion
Synonyms: thousand million

Etymology

From French billion, coined in the 16th century from bi- (two) + -illion (from million), originally meaning "a million million" but now standardized internationally to mean "a thousand million."