googol
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of googol
First recorded in 1935–40; introduced by U.S. mathematician Edward Kasner (1878–1955), whose nine-year-old nephew allegedly invented it
Explanation
A googol is a famously huge number, literally ten to the one hundredth power. A math teacher might offer extra credit to students who correctly write out the digits of a googol on the blackboard. If you want to write out a googol, write the number one followed by one hundred zeros. Mathematicians sometimes use the idea of a googol to illustrate the difference between an enormous number — one that's too large to imagine — and infinity. The word googol was invented by the young nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner, one of the authors of the 1940 book "Mathematics and the Imagination."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ten duotrigintillion—1 followed by 100 zeroes, or 10100—is equal to one googol.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
A googol is 10 to the 100th power.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 16, 2021
Of Google, she says it can be an “an empty vessel who don’t know what a googol is.”
From Forbes ● Oct. 14, 2013
Science with humanity is googol times more amazing.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2013
If a googol seems large, consider a googolplex.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
