billiard

See also: billiárd and Billiard

English

Etymology 1

From French billard, originally referring to the wooden cue stick, diminutive of Old French bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“large tree, tree trunk”)), from Proto-Celtic *belyos (“tree”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yos (“leaf”), from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪl.i.ə(ɹ)d/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

billiard (plural billiards)

1. A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom.
2. (attributive) Pertaining to the game of billiards.

   a billiard table; a billiard ball

3. A dynamical system in which a particle alternates between motion in a straight line and specular reflections from a boundary.

Derived terms

• billiard ball
• billiard room
• billiard table

 

Translations

a shot in billiards or snooker

• Finnish: kara (fi)
• French: carambole (fr) f (only in french billiard, a.k.a. carambole)

Etymology 2

From French billiard, equivalent to bi- (“two”) +‎ -illiard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪl.i.ɑː(ɹ)d/

Numeral

billiard (plural billiards)

1. (Britain, rare) 10¹⁵, a thousand billion (long scale) or a million milliard.

Synonyms

• (10¹⁵): a short scale quadrillion

Translations

a million milliards — See also translations at quadrillion

• Finnish: biljardi (fi)
• French: billiard (fr) m
• German: Billiarde (de) f
• Spanish: billardo m

See also

• Previous: billion. Next: trillion.
• Symbolic: 10¹⁵ = 1,000,000,000,000,000

French

French numbers ^(edit)

←  1,000,000,000 (109)	[a], [b], [c] ←  1012	1015	1018  → [a], [b], [c]	1021  → [a], [b], [c]
Cardinal (traditional spelling): un billiard, un million de milliards     Cardinal (post-1990 spelling): un-billiard, un-million de milliards     Ordinal: billiardième, millionième de milliardième
French Wikipedia article on 1015

Etymology

From bi- (“two”) +‎ -illiard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.ljaʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Numeral

billiard m (plural billiards)

1. quadrillion (10¹⁵)