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, 12 Dec. 2025
Over the last 75 years, billions of children have been vaccinated, thanks to scientists, to health workers, to volunteers.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE, 12 Dec. 2025
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least 12 years in prison, saying the crash of Kwon’s Terra cryptocurrency caused billions of dollars in losses and triggered a cascade of crises in the crypto market.
—Jack Queen, USA Today, 12 Dec. 2025
Instagram and TikTok have billions of users.
—Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, 12 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 15 Dec. 2025.
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