googol

[goo-gawl, -gol, -guhl]

noun

1. a number that is equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros and expressed as 10 100 .

googol

/ ˈɡuːɡɒl, -ɡəl /

noun

1. the number represented as one followed by 100 zeros (10 ¹⁰⁰ )

googol

1. The number 10 raised to the 100th power (10 ¹⁰⁰), written out as 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Word History and Origins

Origin of googol¹

First recorded in 1935–40; introduced by U.S. mathematician Edward Kasner (1878–1955), whose nine-year-old nephew allegedly invented it

Word History and Origins

Origin of googol¹

C20: coined by E. Kasner (1878–1955), American mathematician

Example Sentences

Is googol a number any actual layperson has ever needed to use?

Read more on Scientific American

Cosmologists have calculated that we will reach this cosmic dead end—in which time itself ceases, as physics writer George Musser points out—in one googol years.

Read more on Scientific American

He added: "The major did plump for googol and of course the rest was history, he'd won the one million pounds on the evening."

Read more on BBC

When the internet company was founded in 1998, it based its name on the mathematical term “googol,” which refers to the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Read more on New York Times

In August 1996, Backrub became Google, a play on the term googol, meaning the large number 10 to the power of 100.

Read more on The Guardian

Related Words

• figure 
• statistic 
• sum 
• total