gorillion

noun

"gorillion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“gorillion” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An unspecified large number (of).

Corpus desk

Index EN-gorillion · gorillion · English

gorillion · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for gorillion
PropertyValue
Headwordgorillion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “gorillion” in English

gorillionsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gorillion is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An unspecified large number (of).".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for gorillion, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From gorilla (arbitrary, used for sound) + -illion. The correct English form is gorillion, spelled G-O-R-I-L-L-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An unspecified large number (of).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how gorillion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The sum of one million dollars seems more randomly absurd than unjust, piddling, or anything else you can come up with to describe a punishment for the Fiesta's corruption. It might as well have been one billion, or one gorillion dollars. The sum isn't important.
  2. It’s actually a quadrillion, although it could just as easily be a bazillion, a gorillion, a donkeykongillion or a shakazuluillion, because the number is so large that we really don’t even use it, especially when we’re talking about money.

Etymology

From gorilla (arbitrary, used for sound) + -illion.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gorillion"?
"gorillion" is spelled G-O-R-I-L-L-I-O-N.
What does "gorillion" mean?
As a noun, "gorillion" means: An unspecified large number (of).
What is the origin of the word "gorillion"?
From gorilla (arbitrary, used for sound) + -illion. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list