Billón comes from the Latin word bīllīōnem, which means “a thousand million” or “billion.” A billion is 1,000 million (1,000,000,000) or 109 in scientific notation.

In Spain and many other countries, the word for billion is often used as a synonym for million. For example, in Spain you can say “Tengo un millón de libros,” which means “I have one million books.” In English this sentence would be incorrect because it would imply that you only have one book in your house. The correct way to say this in English would be: “I have one million books.”

Another way to say “one trillion” in Spanish is billonario/a (plural billonarios/as). If you want to say that someone has a lot of money or something costs a lot of money in Spanish, you can use the verb tener (to have) plus mucho dinero/mucho dinero para comprar un coche nuevo/mucho dinero para comprar una casa nueva (much money to buy a new car).

Last modified: August 1, 2022