Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “billionaire” come from?

I can't write this etymology summary because the chain provided appears corrupted or incomplete—it cycles through "billion" and "black" without clear progression through different languages, and no source language or original meaning is established. To write an accurate one-sentence etymology, I would need: - A clear chain showing progression from source language through intermediate languages to English - The original form and meaning in the source language - Each intermediate step with its spelling and language Could you provide the complete etymological chain for "billionaire"?

billionaire (English): Somebody whose wealth is greater than one billion...

Definitions

  1. Somebody whose wealth is greater than one billion...

Ancestry of “billionaire”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishbillioncardinal...
2Frenchbillion10; a long scale billion; a short scale trillion
3French-illion-illion
4Frenchmillionmillion, 10
5Middle Frenchmillionmillion, 10
6Old Frenchmillon—
7Italianmilionemillion
8Italianmillethousand
9LatinMīlle—
10Proto-Italicsmīɣeslī—
11Proto-Indo-Europeansmih₂ǵʰéslih₂—

Words derived from “billionaire”

  • multibillionaire
  • billionairess
  • nonbillionaire
Every word from Proto-Indo-European smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ →