# British million **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813 "2000-10-21T20:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![porkchop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ea666f/32.png) [@porkchop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porkchop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/1 "2000-10-21T20:22:35Z")
Is there a difference in how the British and Americans define a million??? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/2 "2000-10-21T20:24:42Z")
I doubt it. A British million is 1,000,000. Is it different over there? ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/3 "2000-10-21T20:29:52Z")
I think you’re thinking of billion. In the US, the names go million, billion, trillion. In the UK it goes million, milliard, billion (=US trillion). I think “milliard” is being phased out, though. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/4 "2000-10-21T20:34:00Z")
Er…I’ve never, ever heard of “milliard”, and never heard or seen it used over here in my lifetime. In everyday usage in the UK it goes million, billion too, although there are some variations in defining a British billion (I have no idea what most people think now). ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/5 "2000-10-21T20:39:35Z")
Look up billion in any decent dictionary and it’ll tell you that in America, it’s 1,000,000,000 (10 to the 9th) and in Britain it’s 1,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 12th). ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/6 "2000-10-21T20:52:08Z")
Hmmm…Americans seem to think that Brits do use the term “milliard”. [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Milliard.html](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Milliard.html) Maybe the use of the word was phased out many years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/7 "2000-10-21T20:55:57Z")
Aye, you might well be right. I’ve not heard the word in twenty-five years, so maybe it’s just one of those cultural misunderstandings (“What, not all American men over forty are called Elmer? Really?”). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2000, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/8 "2000-10-22T00:09:07Z")
I’ve not heard of milliard in 45 years (i.e. ever). I love that new US film ‘It’s a wonderful life’… ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/9 "2000-10-22T00:16:14Z")
[this page](http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html) explains a lot of the confusion. To my knowledge, the brits have phased out the -iard numbers in favor of the more universal standard. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/10 "2000-10-22T01:01:52Z")
The non-dfference between U.S./U.K. millionhas been dealt with, I realise. But my excuse for butting in is the lovely bit in (I think) **Friedo’s** ) suggested link. Quoting: Both systems have their good and bad features. The European system is certainly more logical; in that system a billion is a million million, a trillion is a million million million, and so on. The American system seems more practical in that **it provides shorter names for quantities actually used in real life**: a “billion dollars” as opposed to a “thousand million dollars.” End Quote O woe is me. Would that it were MY real life. ---
**Author:** ![porkchop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ea666f/32.png) [@porkchop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porkchop)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-million/37813/11 "2000-10-23T01:48:58Z")
Maralinn was correct. I was thinking of million, but should have said billion. There is a definitional difference in the American billion and the British billion. Thanks for the help!