Billion - Wikipedia-style Article

Billion

Definition

Billion is a noun that refers to the number 1,000,000,000 (one thousand million) in the short scale system, commonly used in the United States and modern British English. In older British English (long scale), it referred to one million million (1,000,000,000,000).

Parts of Speech

Noun

Pronunciation

American English

IPA Pronunciation: /ˈbɪljən/
Respelling: BIL-yuhn

British English

IPA Pronunciation: /ˈbɪljən/
Respelling: BIL-yuhn

Etymology

The word "billion" originated from the French "billion," which is derived from "bi-" (meaning two) and "million." Initially used in the long scale system, where it meant one million million, it was later adapted in the short scale to mean one thousand million. This short-scale definition is now standard in English-speaking countries.

Derivatives

Billionaire (noun)
Billionth (ordinal noun/adjective)
Multi-billion (adjective)
Billion-dollar (adjective)
Trillion (noun, following billion in scale)

Synonyms

Thousand million (short scale synonym)
Milliard (long scale synonym)
Ten hundred million

Antonyms

None

Usage

The term "billion" is commonly used to represent large numbers, especially in financial, scientific, and statistical contexts. For example, "The company is valued at over 5 billion dollars," or "There are approximately 7.9 billion people in the world."

Related Terms

Million: The number one thousand thousand, or 1,000,000.
Trillion: The number one thousand billion, or 1,000,000,000,000 in the short scale.
Numeral: A symbol or group of symbols representing a number.

Detailed Definitions

Noun

One thousand million (1,000,000,000) in short scale: Commonly used in modern English-speaking countries to denote a thousand million.
- Example: "The Earth's population is nearly 8 billion."
One million million (1,000,000,000,000) in long scale: Formerly used in British English before adopting the short scale definition.
- Example (historical): "One billion pounds in 18th-century Britain referred to a million million pounds."

billion

Visualizing a billion: Each bead counts.

A globe highlighting the number '1 billion' with diverse individuals from around the planet connecting.

The treasure of knowledge, a library housing a billion books.

🇨🇳 Mandarin (Chinese)

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: 十亿 (shí yì)
IPA Pronunciation: [ʂɻ̩˥˩ i˥˩]
Respelling: shrr-yee

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🇮🇳 Hindi

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: अरब (arab)
IPA Pronunciation: [ərəb]
Respelling: ar-ub

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🇪🇸 Spanish

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: mil millones
IPA Pronunciation: [mil miˈʝones]
Respelling: meel mee-yo-nes

‍

Meaning 2: Billion (10^12)
Translation: billón
IPA Pronunciation: [biˈʝon]
Respelling: bee-yon

In Spanish:

"mil millones" refers to 10^9, which is the short scale billion used predominantly in the United States and many other countries.
"billón" refers to 10^12, which is the long scale billion used historically in some European countries.

🇫🇷 French

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: milliard
IPA Pronunciation: [miˈljaʁ]
Respelling: mee-lyar

‍

Meaning 2: Billion (10^12)
Translation: billion
IPA Pronunciation: [biljɔ̃]
Respelling: bee-lyon

In French:

"milliard" refers to 10^9, aligning with the short scale.
"billion" refers to 10^12, aligning with the long scale.

🇸🇦 Modern Standard Arabic

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: مليار (milyār)
IPA Pronunciation: [milˈjaːr]
Respelling: mil-yaar

🇧🇩 Bengali

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: আরব (arôb)
IPA Pronunciation: [arɔb]
Respelling: a-rob

🇷🇺 Russian

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: миллиард (milliard)
IPA Pronunciation: [mʲɪˈlʲjard]
Respelling: mi-lyard

🇵🇹 Portuguese

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: bilhão
IPA Pronunciation: [biˈʎɐ̃w̃]
Respelling: bee-lyown

🇮🇩 Indonesian

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: miliar
IPA Pronunciation: [ˈmiliar]
Respelling: mee-lee-ar

🇩🇪 German

Meaning 1: Billion (10^9)
Translation: Milliarde
IPA Pronunciation: [mɪˈliːaʁdə]
Respelling: mil-lee-ar-duh

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Meaning 2: Billion (10^12)
Translation: Billion
IPA Pronunciation: [ˈbɪljɔn]
Respelling: bil-yon

‍

In the German language, the word "billion" also has two distinct meanings based on the scale:

German:
"Milliarde" refers to 10^9, which aligns with the short scale billion used predominantly in the United States and many other countries.
"Billion" refers to 10^12, which aligns with the long scale billion used historically in some European countries.

This distinction between the short and long scales in German is similar to the distinction in French and Spanish.