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trillion

/ˈtɹɪljən/number, noun

trillion is spelled T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, trillion means “A million (times a) million: 1 followed by twelve zeros, 10¹²” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in trillion?

Letters8: T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.2 times per million words; the 9,735th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 trillion?

Trillion appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th 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 trillion?

  • /ˈtɹɪljən/
  • Australia /ˈtɹɪ(l)jən/

Trillion 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: En-us-trillion.ogg, En-au-trillion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of trillion

  • trillions plural

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

What does trillion mean?

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

number

  1. 1

    AustraliaUKUSA million (times a) million: 1 followed by twelve zeros, 10¹².

  2. 2

    AustraliaUKdatedA million (times a) million (times a) million: 1 followed by eighteen zeros, 10¹⁸.

  3. 3

    colloquialAn unspecified very large number.

    Near-synonyms: gazillion; see also Thesaurus:zillion

noun

  1. 1

    slangA statistic formed by a player playing some number of minutes, but recording no stats.

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

How do you abbreviate trillion?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of trillion: tln, tril.

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

Trillion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbillion, mille milliards (a million million, 1012 – see also billion), trillion (a million million million, 1018 – see also…)
GermanBillion (a million million, 1012 – see also billion), Trillion (a million million million, 1018 – see also…)
Portuguesebilião, trilhão (a million million, 1012 – see also billion), trilião, quintilhão (a million million million, 1018 – see also…)
Spanishbillón, trillón (a million million, 1012 – see also billion)

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 trillion come from?

Borrowed from French trillion, from French tri- (“three”) + -illion, equivalent to tri- + -illion. The noun was coined by American basketball player Harvey Pollack, because of the way the numbers read across a basketball box score.

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

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