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
Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Diabetes alone costs the state of California billions annually in direct medical costs and lost productivity.
—Karen R. Studer, Sacbee.com, 1 June 2026
Jones added that local governments have warned that losing billions of dollars in property tax revenue could ultimately affect schools, fire rescue services, parks and other local programs.
—Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 1 June 2026
Counterboycotts, state divestments, activist investor interventions, lawsuits, and the resignation of Unilever’s CEO all came next, just as the company lost billions in market value.
—Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for billion
Cite this Entry
“Billion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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