Billion Definition, Examples, and Common Usage

Meaning 1：one thousand million (billion)

billion 🔊

/ˈbɪljən/

The number 1,000,000,000. It's a very large number used to talk about huge amounts of things, like people, money, or stars.

one thousand million 🔊

➕

/wʌn ˈθaʊzənd ˈmɪljən/

The cardinal number equal to 1,000,000,000 (10^9). It is used to quantify extremely large amounts, such as population counts, financial wealth, or astronomical distances.

📁 Category：Social Economy 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From French 'billion', from bi- (two) + -illion (from million); originally meant a million million (10^12), now commonly 10^9 in American English.

💡 Mnemonic

Think 'bi' for two: a million million (two million powers) originally, but now it's a thousand million—just one step beyond million.

📖 Example

The tech company's new app reached over a billion users worldwide within just two years. 🔊 The tech company's new app reached over a billion users worldwide within just two years.

🔗 Collocations

a billion dollars – one thousand million dollars

billion-dollar company – a company valued at or with revenue exceeding one billion dollars

billion people – one thousand million individuals

🔄 Synonyms

one thousand million (n. phrase) – The exact numeric equivalent of a billion in the short scale.

milliard (n.) – An older or British term for one thousand million, rarely used today.

giga (prefix) – The SI prefix meaning one billion (10^9), used in units like gigabyte.

🚫 Antonyms

million (n.) – One thousandth of a billion; 1,000,000.

trillion (n.) – One thousand times larger than a billion; 1,000,000,000,000.

🌱 Derivatives

billionth (adj./n.) – The ordinal form of billion; one part in a billion equal parts.

billionaire (n.) – A person whose net worth is at least one billion units of currency.

billionfold (adv./adj.) – Multiplied by a billion; a billion times.

📖 Cultural Story

Introduced into English from French in the 17th century, the term 'billion' originally followed the long scale (10^12). The U.S. adopted the short scale (10^9) in the 20th century, leading to global variation; modern financial and media usage predominantly uses the short scale.