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
Eric Lagatta, AZCentral.com, 19 Dec. 2025
Last month alone, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon raised tens of billions of dollars in the bond market.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 19 Dec. 2025
Production-heavy states that have invested billions in tax credits and infrastructure like Georgia, New Mexico, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts rely on a diverse buyer ecosystem.
—Joseph M. Singer, Deadline, 19 Dec. 2025
While Brussels stopped short of enacting a controversial proposal to divert billions in frozen Russian assets held in Europe to Ukraine, the loan quite literally gives the Ukrainians time – and ammunition – as the war launched by Putin in February 2022 approaches the four-year mark.
—Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 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 20 Dec. 2025.
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