trillion

B2 Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /ˈtɹɪljən/ See IPA manual

Freq #13739

Meanings

1

num
The number one followed by twelve zeros (1,000,000,000,000).

The country's debt now exceeds two trillion dollars.
2

noun
A very large but unspecified number.

There are trillions of stars in the universe.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a very large but... zilliongazillion

Word family

Forms trillions

Related forms tera-

Etymology

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.

Topics

Numbers & Quantity

External links

# trillion

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** num, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtɹɪljən/
**Frequency rank:** 13739

## Meanings
1. The number one followed by twelve zeros (1,000,000,000,000).
2. A very large but unspecified number.

## Examples
- The country's debt now exceeds two trillion dollars.
- There are trillions of stars in the universe.

## Related Forms
- tera-

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Trillion is 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. The surrounding word family includes related forms such as tera-. In present use it covers the number one followed by twelve zeros (1,000,000,000,000) and a very large but unspecified number.

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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