billion
noun
Did you know?
How much is a billion? It might depend on whom you ask. Billion was borrowed from French in the late 1600s to indicate the number one million raised to the power of two, or a million million—a number represented by a 1 followed by 12 zeros. However, the French later changed their naming conventions so that a billion became a thousand million (a 1 followed by 9 zeros) and a trillion became a thousand thousand million (or a million million, the old billion). The French have since returned to the older system, but it was this new system that was adopted by American English speakers in the 1800s. In Britain, the newer system has seen increasing use since the 1950s, but the older sense is still sometimes used there as well.
Examples of billion in a Sentence
Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 28 Nov. 2025
This discovery could expand understanding of how life’s fundamental ingredients might have seeded our planet billions of years ago.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
Criminals run scripts that check billions of combinations every second.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 28 Nov. 2025
Independent watchdogs and state officials warn that, despite today’s windfall, New York faces structural budget gaps that could reach well into the tens of billions of dollars over the next few years as temporary federal aid and boom-time tax receipts fade.
—Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for billion
Cite this Entry
“Billion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion. Accessed 29 Nov. 2025.
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