Billion in Different Languages
Discover 'Billion' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'billion' carries a significant weight in our modern vocabulary, representing a vast quantity of one thousand million. Its cultural importance is undeniable, as it allows us to quantify and comprehend large-scale concepts, from financial markets to astronomical phenomena.
Did you know that the term 'billion' was first used in English in the 16th century, although it represented the much smaller figure of a million million in the French numbering system? This historical context highlights the evolving nature of language and our understanding of large numbers.
As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, understanding the translation of 'billion' in different languages becomes even more crucial. Not only does it facilitate global communication, but it also offers a window into the unique cultural perspectives and numerical systems of various countries.
For instance, in Spanish, 'billion' is 'billón', while in German, it's 'Milliarde'. In Mandarin Chinese, it's '十亿' (shí yì), and in Japanese, it's '十億' (hyaku oku).
Billion
Billion in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | miljard | ||
| In Afrikaans, "miljard" is derived from the Dutch word "miljard" and also means "thousand million". | |||
| Amharic | ቢሊዮን | ||
| The word "ቢሊዮን" is derived from the French word "billion", which originally meant "a thousand million". | |||
| Hausa | biliyan | ||
| The word "biliyan" is derived from the English word "billion" and has no other meanings in Hausa. | |||
| Igbo | ijeri | ||
| The word "ijeri" in Igbo derives from the concept of "a thousand thousands," and its root may indicate both "big" and "to count." | |||
| Malagasy | lavitrisa | ||
| The word "lavitrisa" comes from the French word "milliard" and also means "thousand million". | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | biliyoni | ||
| The word "biliyoni" also means "riches" or "wealth" in Nyanja. | |||
| Shona | bhiriyoni | ||
| The Shona word "bhiriyoni" may derive from the English word "million" with the addition of a prefix (bhiri-) representing the next power of ten. | |||
| Somali | bilyan | ||
| Bilyan is also a clan of the Hawiye clan family in Somalia. | |||
| Sesotho | bilione | ||
| The Sesotho word "bilione" is derived from the English word "billion" and has the same meaning. | |||
| Swahili | bilioni | ||
| The word "bilioni" has the same meaning as "bilioni" in English and "milliard" in French, German, and other languages. | |||
| Xhosa | yezigidigidi | ||
| The word "yezigidigidi" is a reduplication of the word "igidi", which means "thousand". It is also used to refer to a very large number, such as a million or a billion. | |||
| Yoruba | bilionu | ||
| In Yoruba, "bilionu" can also refer to a large sum of money, especially in the context of a debt. | |||
| Zulu | isigidigidi | ||
| "Isigidigidi" is derived from the word "isigidi", which means "a thousand", and the suffix "-idi", which denotes a large number. | |||
| Bambara | miliyari caman | ||
| Ewe | biliɔn geɖe | ||
| Kinyarwanda | miliyari | ||
| Lingala | ba milliards ya ba milliards | ||
| Luganda | obuwumbi | ||
| Sepedi | bilione | ||
| Twi (Akan) | ɔpepepem pii | ||
Billion in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | مليار | ||
| The word "مليار" in Arabic can also refer to a very large number, often used in an exaggerated or informal context. | |||
| Hebrew | מיליארד | ||
| The Hebrew word for "billion", "מיליארד", is derived from the Latin word "milliard", which originally meant "a thousand million". | |||
| Pashto | ملیارد | ||
| The word مليارد "billion" is derived from an Arabic word "maliyya" which meant "treasury" or "fiscal resources." | |||
| Arabic | مليار | ||
| The word "مليار" in Arabic can also refer to a very large number, often used in an exaggerated or informal context. | |||
Billion in Western European Languages
| Albanian | miliardë | ||
| “Miliardë” derives from the Albanian word “mijë” meaning “thousand”, and a suffix indicating many of something. | |||
| Basque | mila milioi | ||
| The Basque word "mila milioi" literally translates to "thousand million." | |||
| Catalan | mil milions | ||
| The Catalan word "mil milions" literally means "thousand millions" and is equivalent to "billion" in English. | |||
| Croatian | milijarde | ||
| The word 'milijarde' is derived from the Latin word 'mille' meaning 'thousand' and the Italian word 'bilione' meaning 'two thousand million', but it means 'billion' in Croatian. | |||
| Danish | milliard | ||
| "Milliard" is derived from the French "milliard" via Latin, ultimately from the Italian "mille", meaning "thousand". | |||
| Dutch | miljard | ||
| The word "miljard" is derived from the Italian "milliardo", meaning "a thousand million", and is used in Dutch to refer to "a billion". | |||
| English | billion | ||
| The word "billion" originally meant "a million million" but now usually means "a thousand million". | |||
| French | milliard | ||
| "Milliard" also meant thousand million (one trillion) and was widely used that way until the term "billion" replaced it in the early 20th century. | |||
| Frisian | miljard | ||
| In Frisian, it can also mean "a large number," especially in phrases like "sa'n miljard minsken" ("such a large number of people"). | |||
| Galician | millóns | ||
| The word “millóns” in Galician is cognate to the Spanish “millón”, which has two different meanings depending on the place: a million in Spain, but a billion in Latin America. | |||
| German | milliarde | ||
| Milliarde in German derives from the French milliard, which originally meant "1000 million" but now means "1000 times a million". | |||
| Icelandic | milljarða | ||
| In Icelandic, 'milljarða' derives from 'mill' (thousand) and 'jarðar' (world), alluding historically to a large sum of money required to purchase an entire world. | |||
| Irish | billiún | ||
| The Irish word "billiún" is derived from the Latin "billio" and ultimately from the Greek "chilioi," meaning "a thousand." | |||
| Italian | miliardi | ||
| The Italian word "miliardi" originally meant "thousands of millions", and is cognate with the English word "myriad". | |||
| Luxembourgish | milliard | ||
| The Luxembourgish word "Milliard" can also mean "thousand million", which is the same as "billion" in English. | |||
| Maltese | biljun | ||
| In Maltese, "biljun" can also refer to a large number (often a million), but is not used in a mathematical context | |||
| Norwegian | milliarder | ||
| In Norwegian, the word "milliard" means "billion" but can also refer to a "thousand million" (a trillion). | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | bilhão | ||
| The word "bilhão" in Portuguese initially meant "million", but it started to mean "billion" in the 19th century, probably due to influence from French. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | billean | ||
| The Gaelic word "billean" derives from the French "billion", which originally meant "one thousand million". Today both words mean "one billion". | |||
| Spanish | mil millones | ||
| "Mil millones" literally means "a thousand million" in Spanish, even though it translates to "billion" in English. | |||
| Swedish | miljard | ||
| Miljard, meaning 'billion', is derived from the French 'milliard' which originally meant 'one thousand million' before being standardized internationally to mean 'one billion'. | |||
| Welsh | biliwn | ||
| In Welsh, "biliwn" means "billion". It derives from the French word "billion", which originally meant "thousand million" but has since shifted to its current meaning. | |||
Billion in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | мільярдаў | ||
| The word "мільярдаў" is derived from the French word "milliard" and also means "thousand million" in Russian. | |||
| Bosnian | milijarde | ||
| The Bosnian word "milijarde" derives from the Latin "mille" (thousand) and "-jardi" (decade) | |||
| Bulgarian | милиард | ||
| The word "милиард" also means "milliard" in Bulgarian, indicating that it is one thousand million. | |||
| Czech | miliarda | ||
| In Czech, the word "miliarda" has been used historically to mean both "billion" and "trillion," but now only officially means the latter. | |||
| Estonian | miljardit | ||
| The Estonian word "miljardit" is derived from the French word "milliard" and originally meant "thousand million". | |||
| Finnish | miljardia | ||
| The word "miljardia" is also used in some contexts to refer to "milliard" or "thousand million", a usage that is uncommon in most other languages. | |||
| Hungarian | milliárd, ezermillió | ||
| In Hungarian, the word "milliárd" is often used to mean "thousand million," while "ezermillió" means "billion." | |||
| Latvian | miljards | ||
| The word "miljards" comes from the German "Milliarde", which in turn comes from the French "milliard", which ultimately comes from the Italian "mille" (thousand). | |||
| Lithuanian | mlrd | ||
| The Lithuanian word "mlrd" is a contraction of "milijardas", which is itself derived from the French "milliard" and the Latin "mille" (thousand). | |||
| Macedonian | милијарди | ||
| The word "милијарди" in Macedonian derives from the French word "milliard" which originally meant 1,000 million. | |||
| Polish | miliard | ||
| In Polish, "miliard" originally meant thousand millions, but its meaning shifted to one thousand billion in the 20th century. | |||
| Romanian | miliard | ||
| The Romanian word "miliard" is derived from the French word "milliard", which originally meant "thousand million" but now means "billion" in English and American usage. | |||
| Russian | миллиард | ||
| The word "миллиард" comes from the French word "milliard", which itself comes from the Italian word "mille" meaning "thousand." | |||
| Serbian | милијарде | ||
| "Милијарде" in Serbian is cognate with "mille" (thousand) in French and Italian, "mile" in English, and "mil" in Spanish and Portuguese. | |||
| Slovak | miliárd | ||
| The word "miliárd" comes from the Latin word "mille" (thousand) and "ardus" (high), and its original meaning was "a thousand times a thousand thousand." | |||
| Slovenian | milijard | ||
| The word "milijard" comes from the French word "milliard," which originally meant "thousand million." | |||
| Ukrainian | млрд | ||
| The word "млрд" in Ukrainian comes from the French "milliard," originally from the Italian "mille" meaning "thousand" and "ardo" meaning "hard." | |||
Billion in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | বিলিয়ন | ||
| The word "বিলিয়ন" is derived from the Latin word "bi-", meaning "two", and "mille", meaning "thousand", and originally meant one million million (10^12). | |||
| Gujarati | અબજ | ||
| The word "અબજ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "अब्ज" which means "lotus" or "water lily". | |||
| Hindi | एक अरब | ||
| The term एक अरब, commonly translated as "billion" in English, also has the secondary meaning of a large but indefinite number. | |||
| Kannada | ಶತಕೋಟಿ | ||
| Malayalam | ബില്ല്യൺ | ||
| "બિલ્યન" (billion) is the English equivalent of "अब्ज" (abja) and "खर्व" (kharva) in Sanskrit, which originally meant tens of millions and tens of billions respectively. | |||
| Marathi | अब्ज | ||
| The Marathi word "अब्ज" (abj) is derived from the Sanskrit word "अब्जम्" (abjam), which means "lotus flower", and is also used to denote a large number in Indian numeration systems. | |||
| Nepali | अरबौं | ||
| "अरबौं" is an alternate form of "अरब" (meaning "hundred million"), used to denote "billion" in Nepali, reflecting an older usage where "arab" meant "billion" in English. | |||
| Punjabi | ਅਰਬ | ||
| "ਅਰਬ" also means “Arab” (as in “the Arab world,” referring to its people or culture). | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | බිලියන | ||
| In Sinhala, the word "බිලියන" may also refer to "a vast sum" or "a very large number". | |||
| Tamil | பில்லியன் | ||
| In Tamil, "பில்லியன்" originally meant "a group of ten million," but its meaning has shifted over time to align with the English "billion" (one thousand million). | |||
| Telugu | బిలియన్ | ||
| The word "బిలియన్" is derived from the French word "billion" and means "one thousand million". | |||
| Urdu | ارب | ||
| In Urdu, "ارب" ('arb) also refers to a large number that equals the square of a thousand million. | |||
Billion in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 十亿 | ||
| 十亿 also means "ten times ten million" in Chinese. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 十億 | ||
| The Chinese character "十億" is itself a unit of measurement equal to 100 million, hence its use for "billion". | |||
| Japanese | 十億 | ||
| The word 十億 (じゅうおく、じゆうおく) can also mean "ten million." | |||
| Korean | 십억 | ||
| The Korean word "십억" originally referred to a period of 100 million years, but its meaning gradually changed to refer to a number equal to 1000 million. | |||
| Mongolian | тэрбум | ||
| The Mongolian word "тэрбум" originates from the Sanskrit word "त्रिस्थलीलंब" meaning "three levels". It was used to refer to the 3 trillionth power of 10 in the long scale numerical system. | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ဘီလီယံ | ||
| In the Myanmar language, "ဘီလီယံ" is a Pali word with several alternative meanings, such as "myriad" and "a hundred million." | |||
Billion in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | milyar | ||
| "Milyar" in Indonesian originally meant "million", but its meaning shifted to "billion" due to the influence of English and other European languages. | |||
| Javanese | milyar | ||
| The Javanese word 'milyar' derives from the Dutch 'miljard', which itself originated in the French 'milliard' meaning 'thousand million'. It has alternate meanings of 'many' or 'vast' in Javanese. | |||
| Khmer | ពាន់លាន | ||
| Lao | ຕື້ | ||
| The word 'ຕື້' can also mean 'snake' in Lao. | |||
| Malay | bilion | ||
| The Malay word 'bilion' is derived from the Latin word 'bilio', which also means 'a billion'. | |||
| Thai | พันล้าน | ||
| พันล้าน also means "thousand million" and is derived from the Sanskrit word "koti". | |||
| Vietnamese | tỷ | ||
| In the 16th–17th century, "tỷ" meant "hundred million", but later came to mean "billion" after the French introduced the concept of "billion" (one thousand million) in 1883. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | bilyon | ||
Billion in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | milyard | ||
| The word "milyard" in Azerbaijani is derived from the French word "milliard" and refers to a thousand million. | |||
| Kazakh | миллиард | ||
| In Kazakh, "миллиард" can also mean "one hundred thousand". | |||
| Kyrgyz | миллиард | ||
| The Kyrgyz word "миллиард" is derived from the French word "milliard" and originally meant "thousand million" in English and other languages before being used to mean "billion" in English and "milliard" in American English and other languages. | |||
| Tajik | миллиард | ||
| In Tajik, "миллиард" can also refer to a trillion, as the words "billion" and "trillion" are synonymous in some contexts. | |||
| Turkmen | milliard | ||
| Uzbek | milliard | ||
| „Milliard“ sözcüğü, Fransızcada „bin milyon“ olarak da bilinir. | |||
| Uyghur | مىليارد | ||
Billion in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | piliona | ||
| The Hawaiian word "piliona" also means "great multitudes". | |||
| Maori | piriona | ||
| In Maori folklore, 'piriona' refers to a supernatural being with a billion eyes. | |||
| Samoan | piliona | ||
| The word "piliona" in Samoan has no other meanings and is derived from the English word "billion". | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | bilyon | ||
| "Bilyon" in Tagalog is derived from the Spanish word "billón", which itself comes from the Latin word "millio" meaning "large amount." | |||
Billion in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | waranqa waranqa waranqa waranqa | ||
| Guarani | mil millones | ||
Billion in International Languages
| Esperanto | miliardo | ||
| The Esperanto word "miliardo" is derived from the Italian word "miliardo", which means "thousand million", and is also used in some other languages, like Portuguese and Spanish, with the same meaning | |||
| Latin | billion | ||
| In Latin, "billion" originally meant "million million" but today means "thousand million". | |||
Billion in Others Languages
| Greek | δισεκατομμύριο | ||
| In Greek, the word "δισεκατομμύριο" derives from "δισ- (double)" and "εκατομμύριο (million)", implying "twice a thousand millions" or "two billion". | |||
| Hmong | billion | ||
| Hmong does not have a native word for "billion"; instead, it uses the Mandarin loanword "Yi" (亿元). | |||
| Kurdish | milyar | ||
| The word 'milyar' (meaning 'billion' in Kurdish) derives from the French 'milliard' (meaning 'thousand million'). | |||
| Turkish | milyar | ||
| The word "milyar" is derived from the French word "milliard" and originally meant "thousand million" in English. | |||
| Xhosa | yezigidigidi | ||
| The word "yezigidigidi" is a reduplication of the word "igidi", which means "thousand". It is also used to refer to a very large number, such as a million or a billion. | |||
| Yiddish | ביליאָן | ||
| In Yiddish, the word "ביליאָן" can also refer to a vast, unspecified quantity, similar to "a gazillion" in English. | |||
| Zulu | isigidigidi | ||
| "Isigidigidi" is derived from the word "isigidi", which means "a thousand", and the suffix "-idi", which denotes a large number. | |||
| Assamese | বিলিয়ন বিলিয়ন | ||
| Aymara | waranqa waranqa waranqa waranqa | ||
| Bhojpuri | अरब के रुपिया के बा | ||
| Dhivehi | ބިލިއަން ބިލިއަން ރުފިޔާ އެވެ | ||
| Dogri | अरब दा | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | bilyon | ||
| Guarani | mil millones | ||
| Ilocano | bilion | ||
| Krio | bilyan bilyan | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | ملیار | ||
| Maithili | अरब के | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯕꯤꯂꯤꯌꯟ ꯕꯤꯂꯤꯌꯟ ꯑꯃꯥ ꯄꯤꯔꯤ꯫ | ||
| Mizo | tluklehdingawn a ni | ||
| Oromo | biiliyoona | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ବିଲିୟନ | ||
| Quechua | waranqa waranqa waranqa | ||
| Sanskrit | कोटि कोटि | ||
| Tatar | миллиард | ||
| Tigrinya | ቢልዮን ዝቑጸር እዩ። | ||
| Tsonga | biliyoni ya tibiliyoni | ||