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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

billion

/ˈbɪljən/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does billion mean?

numeral

  1. a thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹.
  2. An unspecified very large number.
More meanings (1)

numeral

  1. (dated) A million million (logic: 1,000,000²): a 1 followed by twelve zeros (10¹²); a thousand milliard.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈbɪljən/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

He assured me that that diamond's value could have been over a billion dollars, but not under it.
Mark TwainFollowing the Equator: A Journey Around the WorldProject Gutenberg ebook #2895
Poland, with its hard currency debt of approximately $40 billion, is severely limited in its ability to import much-needed hard currency goods.
United States. Central Intelligence AgencyThe 1990 CIA World FactbookProject Gutenberg ebook #14
More book examples (2)
They own more than a billion dollars' worth of property, and in the West and South they dominate the intellectual life of the country.
Upton SinclairThe Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic InterpretationProject Gutenberg ebook #1558
The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billion nine hundred and sixty millions of acres.
Jules VerneTwenty Thousand Leagues under the SeaProject Gutenberg ebook #164