nonillion

[noh-nil-yuhn]

noun

plural

nonillions ,

plural

nonillion .

1. a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 30 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 54 zeros.

adjective

1. amounting to one nonillion in number.

nonillion

/ nəʊˈnɪljən /

noun

1. (in Britain, France, and Germany) the number represented as one followed by 54 zeros (10 ⁵⁴ )

2. Brit word: quintillion. (in the US and Canada) the number represented as one followed by 30 zeros (10 ³⁰ )

Other Word Forms

• nonillionth adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nonillion¹

1680–90; < French, equivalent to non- (< Latin nōnus ninth) + -illion, as in million million

Word History and Origins

Origin of nonillion¹

C17: from French, from Latin nōnus ninth, on the model of _million

Example Sentences

The DNA recovered is “3.6 nonillion times” more likely to originate from Jones “than an unrelated individual selected at random from the U.S. population,” the affidavit states.

Read more on Seattle Times

At the same time, only a tiny fraction of the estimated ten nonillion, or 10³¹, phages have been discovered and categorized in a library.

Read more on Salon

According to The New York Times’s Playoff Simulator, there are 325 nonillion ways the season could end.

Read more on New York Times

Meanwhile, the Oxford Dictionary advises that the big number designations which follow quadrillion — quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion and decillion — are not likely to appear in any financial context too soon.

Read more on Washington Times

What they lack in size they make up for in numbers: Marine census takers calculate there are a "nonillion" of them -- that's 1,000 times 1 billion, times 1 billion, times 1 billion.

Read more on Washington Post