The unsatisfactory word 'billion'

Neon Knight Thu 6 Jan - 15:13

A billion is now mostly used to mean 'a thousand million' but it doesn't strictly make sense because 'bi' means two.

From https://www.etymonline.com (abridged):

billion (n.)
1680s, from French billion (originally byllion in Chuquet's unpublished "Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres," 1484; see bi- "two" + million. A million million in Britain and Germany (numeration by groups of sixes), which was the original sense; subsequently altered in French to "a thousand million" (numeration by groups of threes) and picked up in that form in U.S., "due in part to French influence after the Revolutionary War" [David E. Smith, 1925]. France reverted to the original meaning in 1948. British usage is truer to the etymology, but U.S. sense is said to be increasingly common there in technical writing.

For a time in Britain gillion (1961), based on giga-, was tried as "a thousand million" to avoid ambiguity.

giga-
word-forming element meaning "billion" (U.S.) in the metric system, 1947, formed arbitrarily from Greek gigas "giant".

milliard (n.)
"one thousand million," 1793, from French milliard, from million with change of suffix. A word made necessary by the double meaning of billion. It became familiar in English in news coverage of the indemnity paid by France to Germany after the war of 1870-71.

I don't really like 'milliard' - it's too similar to 'million'. 'Gillion' is better but I'd expand the spelling to 'gigillion'. I prefer my own idea though: 'thillion' - it make sense as an English combination word https://wordcombiner.com/ and it's clear that it means 'thousand million'.