billiard
/ˈbɪlɪəd/noun, number
billiard is spelled B-I-L-L-I-A-R-D: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, billiard means “A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of billiard is billiards.
How many letters and syllables are in billiard?
| Letters | 8: B-I-L-L-I-A-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,504th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is billiard?
Billiard appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce billiard?
- UK /ˈbɪlɪəd/
- /ˈbɪl.i.ə(ɹ)d/
As a number (“10¹⁵, a thousand billion (long scale) or a million milliard”): /ˈbɪl.i.ɑː(ɹ)d/.
Billiard has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-billiard.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of billiard
- billiards plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does billiard mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom.
- 2
Pertaining to the game of billiards.
a billiard table; a billiard ball
- 3
A dynamical system in which a particle alternates between motion in a straight line and specular reflections from a boundary.
number
- 1
UKrare10¹⁵, a thousand billion (long scale) or a million milliard.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Billiard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does billiard come from?
From French billard with the insertion of the second i and orthographic representation of the French palatalized /j/ sound, originally referring to the wooden cue stick, diminutive of Old French bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“large tree, tree trunk”)), from Proto-Celtic *belyos (“tree”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yos (“leaf”), from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).