trillion

[tril-yuhn]

noun

plural

trillions ,

plural

trillion .

1. a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 12 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 18 zeros.

adjective

1. amounting to one trillion in number.

trillion

/ ˈtrɪljən /

noun

1. the number represented as one followed by twelve zeros (10 ¹² ); a million million

2. (formerly, in Britain) the number represented as one followed by eighteen zeros (10 ¹⁸ ); a million million million

3. (often plural) an exceptionally large but unspecified number

determiner

1. 1. amounting to a trillion

      a trillion stars

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there are three trillion

Other Word Forms

• trillionth noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trillion¹

1680–90; < French, equivalent to tr ( i )- tri- + ( m ) illion million

Word History and Origins

Origin of trillion¹

C17: from French, on the model of million

Example Sentences

This means a stock with a $1 trillion market cap will have 10 times the weighting as one with a $100 billion market cap.

Read more on MarketWatch

If California was a country, its economy would be ranked as the fourth-largest in the world, with a nominal gross domestic product of $4.1 trillion.

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Bird flu has already cost America billions — and if it mutates to allow for human-to-human transmission, the cost could soar into the hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars.

Read more on Salon

And even well into a recovery, the deficit was still $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025 ended on Sept. 30, according to congressional budget data.

Read more on Barron's

All told, OpenAI plans to spend $1 trillion dollars of money it doesn’t yet have to build out its AI infrastructure.

Read more on Barron's