billion

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

bil·lion [billion billions] BrE [ˈbɪljən] NAmE [ˈbɪljən] number
(plural verb)
1. (abbr.bn)1 000 000 000; one thousand million
• Worldwide sales reached 2.5 billion.
•half a billion dollars
• They have spent billions on the problem (= billions of dollars, etc.).  You say a, one, two, several, etc. billion without a final ‘s’ on ‘billion’. Billions (of…) can be used if there is no number or quantity before it. Always use a plural verb with billion or billions, except when an amount of money is mentioned
•Two billion (people) worldwide are expected to watch the game.
•Two billion (dollars) was withdrawn from the account. There are more examples of how to use numbers at the entry for hundred.
2. a billionor billions (of…) (informal)a very large amount
•Our immune systems are killing billions of germs right now.
3. (old-fashioned, BrE)1 000 000 000 000; one million million
Syn: ↑trillion

Word Origin:
late 17th cent.: from French, from million, by substitution of the prefix bi- ‘two’ for the initial letters.

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  one thousand million, 1000000000, million, trillion, zillion, jillion, gazillion, one million million, 1000000000000