Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “billions” come from?

Billions derives from English billion, which combines the prefix bi- meaning "two" with the suffix -llion, ultimately tracing through English black.

billions (English): plural of billion

Definitions

  1. plural of billion

Ancestry of “billions”, 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 “billions”

  • multibillions
Every word from Proto-Indo-European smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ →