-illion
English
editEtymology
editBack-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
edit-illion
- Combined with Latin prefixes for names of integers in order to form names of powers of a million or of a thousand greater than 1,000,000. Thus we have the names billion, trillion, etc.
- Added to various nonsense syllables to indicate an arbitrarily very large number.
Usage notes
edit- The words formed by combining the Latin prefix for the name of an integer ( ) with this suffix may mean or depending on national practices. Hence billion can mean “million million” or “thousand million”. See the usage notes at Wiktionary’s appendix on numbers for more information.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editsuffix forming names of powers of a million or of a thousand greater than 1,000,000
See also
edit- Indefinite and fictitious numbers on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French
editEtymology
editBack-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.
Pronunciation
editSuffix
edit-illion m (plural -illions)