billion

noun

bil·​lion ˈbi(l)-yən How to pronounce billion (audio)
1
US : a number equal to 1,000 million see Table of Numbers
also, British : a number equal to 1,000 milliard see Table of Numbers
2
: a very large number
billion adjective
billionth adjective or 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

We could see a billion stars in the sky.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads. Eric Lagatta, AZCentral.com, 17 Oct. 2025 Although the new commercial space ethos of building satellites fast and cheap has dominated Earth imaging from space for years, deep-space astronomy has so far been headed mostly in the opposite direction — trending toward more complex machines worth billions of dollars. Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 17 Oct. 2025 The government is pouring billions of dollars into developing Mecca and Medina, with a view to accommodating 30 million worshippers a year by 2030. Matthew Martin, semafor.com, 17 Oct. 2025 And in a sign that Wall Street took it seriously, stocks of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the makers of GLP-1 drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, fell significantly, wiping out tens of billions of dollars in the companies’ market values. Meg Tirrell, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for billion

Word History

Etymology

French, from bi- + -illion (as in million)

First Known Use

1690, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of billion was in 1690

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Cite this Entry

“Billion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

billion

noun
bil·​lion ˈbil-yən How to pronounce billion (audio)
1
: a number equal to 1,000 million : 1,000,000,000 see number
2
: a very large number
billion adjective
billionth adjective or noun

More from Merriam-Webster on billion

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