trillion
n. countablen. the number 1,000,000,000,000, which is a million millions. You use it to talk about very large amounts of money or data.
n. the cardinal number represented by a one followed by twelve zeros in the short scale system. In modern British and American English, it is equivalent to a million millions.
The government spent over a trillion dollars on the new infrastructure project.
Astronomers estimate that there are more than a trillion stars in the Andromeda Galaxy.
National debt figures often reach into the trillions, making it difficult for the average citizen to grasp the actual scale of the country's financial obligations.
Borrowed from French trillion, from French tri- (“three”) + -illion, equivalent to tri- + -illion. The noun was coined by American basketball player Harvey Pollack, because of the way the numbers read across a basketball box score.
When used as a specific number with a preceding digit, it remains singular ('two trillion'); it becomes plural ('trillions') when used to describe an indefinite, massive amount.
five trillions dollarsfive trillion dollarsWhen used as a specific measurement or number before a noun, the word remains singular.