-illion

English

Etymology

Back-formation from million, then used in billion, trillion, quadrillion, each from French, ultimately from Italian mille (“thousand”) and the augmentative suffix -one. -illion was segmented from million as if mi- was a prefix, and -illion the stem.

Suffix

-illion

Combined with Latin prefixes for names of integers in order to form names of powers of a million.
‎bi- + ‎-illion → ‎billion

‎tri- + ‎-illion → ‎trillion
Added to various nonsense syllables to indicate an arbitrarily very large number.
bajillion, gazillion

Usage notes

The words formed with this suffix may mean either $1,000,000^{n}$ or $1000^{n+1}$ in different nations and languages. Hence billion can mean “one million million” or “one thousand million”. See Long and short scales on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived terms

Related terms

-illiard

Translations

suffix forming names of powers of a million or of a thousand greater than 1,000,000

Armenian: -իլիոն (-ilion)
Esperanto: -iliono (eo)
French: -illion (fr)

French

Etymology

Back-formation from million, ultimately from Italian mille (“thousand”) and the augmentative suffix -one. -illion was segmented from million as if mi- was a prefix, and -illion the stem.