billion
French, number/bi.ljɔ̃/
billion is spelled B-I-L-L-I-O-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 47,227th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Billion is a French masculine number meaning “trillion (10¹²)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
What does billion mean in English?
number
- 1
masculinetrillion (10¹²)
- 2
datedmasculinebillion (10⁹)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Un million de millions, ou mille milliards, selon l’échelle longue. 10¹², c’est-à-dire 1 000 000 000 000. 2. Milliard. Cet usage, qui suit l’échelle courte, est aujourd’hui très rare en français.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of billion
- billions plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce billion?
- /bi.ljɔ̃/
- \bi.ljɔ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to billion
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is billion in French?
billion appears about once in every 2 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).