Billion

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪljən/

Definitions of billion

noun a cardinal number represented by 1 followed by nine zeros, equal to 1,000,000,000

Example Sentences

A1 One billion is a very large number.

A2 The company made a profit of one billion dollars.

B1 The government allocated a billion dollars for infrastructure development.

B2 The billionaire entrepreneur donated a billion to charity.

C1 The project cost over a billion to complete.

C2 The company's valuation reached several billion after the successful IPO.

Examples of billion in a Sentence

formal The company reported a revenue of over one billion dollars last quarter.

informal Can you believe he's worth over a billion?

slang She's got a billion things on her mind right now.

figurative His impact on the community is worth a billion smiles.

Grammatical Forms of billion

• plural: billions
• comparative: more billion
• superlative: most billion
• present tense: billion
• future tense: will billion
• perfect tense: have billion
• continuous tense: be billioning
• singular: billion
• positive degree: billion
• infinitive: to billion
• gerund: billing
• participle: billoning

Origin and Evolution of billion

First Known Use: 1690 year

Language of Origin: French

Story behind the word: The word 'billion' originated from French word 'billion', which was derived from the Latin word 'bi-' meaning two and 'million'.

Evolution of the word: Originally, 'billion' meant a million million (1,000,000,000,000) in the French system of naming large numbers. However, in the British system, it came to mean a thousand million (1,000,000,000). The usage of 'billion' to mean a thousand million became standard in English around the early 20th century.