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, 21 Nov. 2025
The insides of these craters likely have not been disturbed other than the small amount of lunar dust, dirt, and debris that’s landed in them due to other, subsequent strikes on the Moon in hundreds of millions or even billions of years.
—Big Think, 21 Nov. 2025
While billions of pennies remain in circulation, shortages are expected as coins are lost, removed from circulation by collectors or hoarded.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Mounting concern that hundreds of billions of dollars pledged to AI investment represents an AI bubble, and may turn out to be unprofitable, has grown in recent weeks.
—Sarah Min, CNBC, 21 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 23 Nov. 2025.
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