trillion

American  

[tril-yuhn] / ˈtrɪl yən /

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.

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adjective

1. amounting to one trillion in number.

trillion British  

/ 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

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to a trillion

      a trillion stars

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there are three trillion

Other Word Forms

• trillionth
  noun

Etymology

Origin of trillion

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

Compare meaning

How does trillion compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• billion vs. trillion

Explanation

A trillion is 1,000,000,000,000, also known as 10 to the 12th power, or one million million. It’s such a large number it’s hard to get your head around it, so sometimes trillion just means “wow, a lot.” A trillion is bigger than a million, more than a billion, it’s 1,000,000,000,000 (and even or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 in some countries). (Yes, those are 18 zeroes in that last one.) Either way, this is such a large number that it's hard to imagine. Maybe that's why people often use this word in a looser sense, as in "I have a trillion reasons why I like this band!" That meaning is similar to gazillion, bazillion, and zillion, which aren't real numbers.

Example Sentences

Bell was a member of Trillion Boys, a team backed by real-estate investor Andrew Stupin.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

He rewarded them with a laid-back set, that repurposed some of his earlier pop/rap hits with the "yee-haw" twang of his recent album F-1 Trillion.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2025

That study, in 2019, helped to spur the Trillion Trees movement but also caused a scientific uproar.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2023

In 2020, President Trump promised American support for the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Tree Initiative, “to protect and restore one trillion trees by 2030.”

From New York Times • Jul. 13, 2022

Trillion spiders'-strands of probability spin themselves into an Ariadne's thread in the Labyrinth.

From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul