trillion

Meanings

1. 1
   num

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

   The country's debt now exceeds two trillion dollars.

2. 2
   noun

   A very large but unspecified number.

   There are trillions of stars in the universe.

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