bilhão

Portuguese

Portuguese numbers ^(edit)

←  1,000,000 (106)	←  100,000,000 (108)	1,000,000,000 (109)	1012  → [a], [b]	1015  → [a], [b], [c]
Cardinal (Brazil): um bilhão     Cardinal (everywhere but Brazil): mil milhões     Ordinal (Brazil): bilionésimo     Ordinal (Portugal): milésimo milionésimo, milésimo de milionésimo     Fractional (Brazil): bilionésimo, um bilhão avos     Fractional (Portugal): milésimo milionésimo, milésimo de milionésimo     Fractional (everywhere but Brazil): mil milhões avos
Portuguese Wikipedia article on 1,000,000,000 (109)

Etymology

Borrowed from French billion.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /biˈʎɐ̃w̃/ [biˈʎɐ̃ʊ̯̃]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈʎɐ̃w̃/

• Hyphenation: bi‧lhão

Noun

bilhão m (plural bilhões)

1. (Brazil, cardinal number) billion (10⁹)

   Synonym: (Angola, Portugal) mil milhões

2. (Portugal, informal, cardinal number) Synonym of bilião (“10¹²”)

Usage notes

• Portuguese-speaking countries follow the traditional long scale, with the exception of Brazil which adopted the short scale used in the UK and US. The number 10⁹ is expressed as mil milhões (literally “one thousand million”) in African and European Portuguese, but as um bilhão in Brazilian Portuguese.
• The Angolan Government proscribes the use of long scale.
• In Portugal, the alternative um bilhão (“one trillion, 10¹²”) is an informal spelling of the preferred and proscribed um bilião.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:bilhão.