English
billion
Billion comes from French billion, formed from bi- ‘two’ + -illion, that is, a million million.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English billion
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1778, Francis Maseres: “n = 1,000,000,000,000, that is, = a billion, or…”.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentbillionWiktionary, English billion‘trillion (10¹²); billion’
- Englishearliest quotation 1778billionWiktionary, English billion. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1778, Francis Maseres: “n = 1,000,000,000,000, that is, = a billion, or…”
A compound of *sm̥- ‘one’ + *-h₂ + *-ih₂ + *smih₂ + *ǵʰes- ‘hand’ + *ǵʰéslom ‘thousand’ + *-ih₂ + *ǵʰéslih₂
Proto-Indo-European *sem- ‘one, whole’
Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- ‘one’
Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- ‘one’
Proto-Indo-European *smih₂
Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- ‘one’
Proto-Indo-European *smih₂
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- ‘hand’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- ‘hand’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslom ‘thousand’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- ‘hand’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslom ‘thousand’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslih₂
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with billion, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Middle French million ‘million, 10⁶’
- million ← milioun
through French million ‘million (10⁶)’
- yard ← milliard ← milliard
- millionaire ← millionnaire
17 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
num Either of two large amounts: a thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “billion”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / French billion / billion