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billion

bil·lion/ˈbɪljən/number

billion is spelled B-I-L-L-I-O-N: 7 letters and 2 syllables (bil·lion). It appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, billion means “a thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in billion?

Letters7: B-I-L-L-I-O-N
Syllables2: bil·lion
In writing56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is billion?

Billion appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd 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 billion?

  • /ˈbɪljən/
  • Australia /ˈbɪ(l)jən/

Billion has 2 syllables, split bil·lion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-billion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What does billion mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

number

  1. 1

    USa thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹.

  2. 2

    datedA million million (logic: 1,000,000²): a 1 followed by twelve zeros (10¹²); a thousand milliard.

  3. 3

    colloquialAn unspecified very large number.

    Near-synonyms: gazillion; see also Thesaurus:zillion

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate billion?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of billion: bil.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Billion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmilliard, billion, mille milliards (a thousand million (1,000,000,000); a milliard), milliards, millions ((plural) a very large number)
GermanMilliarde (a thousand million (1,000,000,000); a milliard), Billion (a million million; 1,000,000,000,000 – see also…)
Portuguesemil milhões, bilhão (a thousand million (1,000,000,000); a milliard), bilião, trilhão (a million million; 1,000,000,000,000 – see also…)
Spanishmil millones, billón (a thousand million (1,000,000,000); a milliard)

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.

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