Etymograph

English

million

Million comes from Middle English milioun, from Middle French milion, from Old French millon, from Italian milione, from mille ‘thousand’ (Latin mīlle).

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smih₂ǵʰéslih₂1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*smīɣeslī1‘thousand’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīlle1‘thousand’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentmille1‘thousand’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentmilione1‘million’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400millon1
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600milion1‘million’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500milioun1‘million’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588million1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English million
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Let him bring millions infinite of men, Unpeopling weſterne…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smih₂ǵʰéslih₂Wiktionary, English millionreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*smīɣeslīWiktionary, English million‘thousand’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīlleWiktionary, English million‘thousand’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentmilleWiktionary, English million‘thousand’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentmilioneWiktionary, English million‘million’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400millonWiktionary, English million
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600milionWiktionary, English million‘million’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500miliounWiktionary, English million‘million’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588millionWiktionary, English million. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Let him bring millions infinite of men, Unpeopling weſterne…”

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 million, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin mīlle ‘thousand’

  • mile ← myle ← mīl ← *mīliju ← mīlia
  • milla ← mīlia

through Middle French million ‘million, 10⁶’

14 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

num The cardinal number 1 000 000: 10⁶; a thousand thousand (1,000²).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “million”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ / million