billion

adj : (U.S.) denoting a quantity consisting of one thousand

million items or units; (Britain) denoting a quantity

consisting of one million million items or units [syn:

{a billion}]

n 1: (in Britain) the number that is represented as a one

followed by 12 zeros [syn: {one million million}, {1000000000000}]

2: (in the United States) the number that is represented as a

one followed by 9 zeros [syn: {one thousand million}, {1000000000}]

gillion

/gil'y▫n/ or /jil'y▫n/ (From {giga-} by analogy with

mega/million and tera/trillion) 10^9.

Same as an American billion or a British "milliard". How one

pronounces this depends on whether one speaks {giga-} with a

hard or soft "g".

[{Jargon File}]

(1995-03-17)