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Billion
Large number (thousand million or million million)

The term billion has two main definitions: the short scale defines it as 1,000,000,000 (one thousand million or 109), now predominant in American and British English, while the long scale treats billion as 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million or 1012), still common in some European languages. The UK officially switched to the short scale in 1974, though it was already used in journalism and technical writing. Notably, Churchill reflected this in 1941 by defining a billion as one thousand millions. Other countries use billion or cognates differently, with many employing milliard for 109, as detailed in Long and short scales § Current usage.

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History

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word billion was formed in the 16th century (from million and the prefix bi-, "two"), meaning the second power of a million (1,000,0002 = 1012). This long scale definition was similarly applied to trillion, quadrillion and so on. The words were originally Latin, and entered English around the end of the 17th century. Later, French arithmeticians changed the words' meanings, adopting the short scale definition whereby three zeros rather than six were added at each step, so a billion came to denote a thousand million (109), a trillion became a million million (1012), and so on. This new convention was adopted in the United States in the 19th century, but Britain retained the original long scale use. France, in turn, reverted to the long scale in 1948.10

In Britain, however, under the influence of American usage, the short scale came to be increasingly used. In 1974, Prime Minister Harold Wilson confirmed that the government would use the word billion only in its short scale meaning (one thousand million). In a written answer to Robin Maxwell-Hyslop MP, who asked whether official usage would conform to the traditional British meaning of a million million, Wilson stated: "No. The word 'billion' is now used internationally to mean 1,000 million and it would be confusing if British Ministers were to use it in any other sense. I accept that it could still be interpreted in this country as 1 million million and I shall ask my colleagues to ensure that, if they do use it, there should be no ambiguity as to its meaning."11

See also

Look up billion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. "How many is a billion?". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on December 17, 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20121217094453/http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/how-many-is-a-billion ↩

  2. Geoghegan, Tom (October 28, 2011). "Is trillion the new billion?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved November 11, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15478580 ↩

  3. "billion". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion ↩

  4. "billion". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion ↩

  5. "billion". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/2412059837. Retrieved November 11, 2023. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2412059837 ↩

  6. Cracknell, Richard; Bolton, Paul (January 2009). "Statistical literacy guide: What is a billion? And other units" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved November 11, 2023. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04440/SN04440.pdf ↩

  7. "WORD "BILLION" (MEANING). (Hansard, 22 April 1941)". api.parliament.uk. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1941/apr/22/word-billion-meaning#S5CV0371P0_19410422_HOC_146 ↩

  8. "Com s'escriuen els nombres" [How to write the numbers]. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (in Catalan). El miliard, el bilió, el 'billion'. Retrieved November 11, 2023. https://www.upc.edu/slt/ca/recursos-redaccio/criteris-linguistics/nombres/escriptura-dels-nombres#millard ↩

  9. "Confusions amb el "billion" i el "trillion" anglesos". ésAdir (in Catalan). Catalan Audiovisual Corporation. Retrieved November 11, 2023. https://esadir.cat/entrades/fitxa/id/5192 ↩

  10. "billion". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/2412059837. Retrieved November 11, 2023. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2412059837 ↩

  11. Cracknell, Richard; Bolton, Paul (January 2009). "Statistical literacy guide: What is a billion? And other units" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved November 11, 2023. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04440/SN04440.pdf ↩