billionaire

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

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Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwís

Proto-Italic *dwis

Old Latin duis

Latin bisder.

French bi-

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Indo-European *smih₂

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes-

Proto-Indo-European *-lom

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslom

▲

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslih₂

Proto-Indo-European *smih₂ǵʰéslih₂

Proto-Italic *smīɣeslī

Latin mīlle

Italian mille

Proto-Indo-European *-ōder.

Proto-Indo-European *-Hōder.?

Latin -ōnem

Italian -one

Italian milionebor.

Old French million

Middle French million

French millionbf.

French -illion

French billionbor.

English billion

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French million

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusder.

French -aire

French millionnairebor.

English millionaire

English -aire

English billionaire

From billion + -aire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌbɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/

Noun

billionaire (plural billionaires)

1. Somebody whose wealth is at least one billion (10⁹) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies).

   Synonym: (rare) milliardaire

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 8 June 2017, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

   • 2025 January 19, Tami Luhby, “Get ready for the world’s first trillionaires”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 28 February 2025:

     The ranks of the billionaire class last year grew by just over 200 to nearly 2,770 people. Their wealth skyrocketed by $2.1 trillion — three times faster than the year before — to a total of $15 trillion. In the United States alone, where 816 billionaires reside, the net worth of this group soared by $1.4 trillion.

Derived terms

• antibillionaire
• billionairedom
• billionairess
• bullionaire
• centibillionaire
• decabillionaire
• demibillionaire
• hectobillionaire
• multibillionaire
• nonbillionaire
• superbillionaire

Related terms

• millionaire
• trillionaire
• crorepati

Translations

wealth exceeding one billion (10⁹) — see also multimillionaire

• Arabic: مِلْيَارْدِير m (milyārdīr)
• Armenian: միլիարդատեր (hy) (miliardater)
• Belarusian: мільярдэ́р m (milʹjardér), мільярдэ́рка f (milʹjardérka)
• Burmese: ဘီလီယံနာ (bhiliyamna)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 億萬富翁 / 亿万富翁 (jik¹ maan⁶ fu³ jung¹)

  Mandarin: 億萬富翁 / 亿万富翁 (zh) (yìwàn fùwēng)

• Czech: miliardář (cs) m
• Danish: milliardær c
• Dutch: miljardair (nl) m
• Esperanto: miliardulo
• Estonian: miljardär (et)
• Finnish: miljardööri (fi)
• French: milliardaire (fr) m or f
• Georgian: მილიარდერი (miliarderi)
• German: Milliardär (de) m, Milliardärin (de) f
• Greek: δισεκατομμυριούχος (el) m (disekatommyrioúchos)
• Hebrew: מיליארדר (he) m (miliarder), מיליארדרית f (miliarderit)
• Hungarian: milliárdos (hu)
• Icelandic: milljarðamæringur m
• Indonesian: milyader
• Italian: miliardario (it) m
• Japanese: 億万長者 (ja) (おくまんちょうじゃ, okumanchōja), ビリオネア (birionea)
• Kazakh: миллиардер (mıyllıyarder)
• Khmer: អ្នកមានលុយរាប់រយកោដិ (ʼnɑɑkmiənluyrŏəprɔɔykaodeʼ)
• Korean: 억만장자(億萬長者) (ko) (eongmanjangja)
• Macedonian: милијарде́р m (milijardér)
• Mongolian: тэрбумтан (mn) (terbumtan)
• Norwegian: milliardær m
• Persian: میلیاردر (fa) (miliyârder)
• Polish: miliarder (pl) m pers, miliarderka (pl) f
• Portuguese: bilionário m
• Romanian: miliardar (ro) m, miliardară (ro) f
• Romansh: milliardari m
• Russian: миллиарде́р (ru) m (milliardér), миллиарде́рша (ru) f (milliardérša)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: милијардер m

  Latin: milijarder (sh) m

• Spanish: milmillonario m (short-scale), millardario m (short-scale), billonario (es) m (short-scale, U.S.)
• Swahili: bilionea
• Swedish: miljardär (sv) c
• Thai: มหาเศรษฐี (th) (má-hǎa-sèet-tǐi), กุฎุมพี (th) (gù-dum-pii)
• Turkish: milyarder (tr)
• Ukrainian: мільярде́р m (milʹjardér), мільярде́рка f (milʹjardérka)
• Urdu: ارب پتی m (arab patī)
• Vietnamese: tỉ phú

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bij.jɔ.nɛʁ/

Noun

billionaire m or f by sense (plural billionaires)

1. billionaire

   Synonym: trillionaire

Coordinate terms

• milliardaire
• trillionaire

Further reading

• “billionaire” in Cordial.
• “billionaire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• “billionaire”, in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse
• “billionaire” in L’Internaute.
• “billionaire” in Universalis.