# etymology of yard/billion **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997 "2003-05-23T09:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Creosote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Mr\_Creosote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Creosote)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/1 "2003-05-23T09:30:59Z")
This one is stumping me. I was wondering if anyone knew why yard came to mean billion. It definitely appears to be slang, and I assume that it is related to the unit of length but I can’t figure out the connection.😕 ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/2 "2003-05-23T09:49:32Z")
I found the following definition at [http://www.marketvolume.com/glossary/y0004.asp](http://www.marketvolume.com/glossary/y0004.asp) I’m gonna keep looking for a better reason Yard Slang for one billion Currency units. Used particularly in currency trading, e.g., for Japanese yen since one billion yen equals approximately US$10 million. It is clearer to say, “I`m a buyer of a Yard of yen," than to say, "I`m a buyer of a billion yen,” which could be misheard as “I`m a buyer of a million yen.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Creosote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Mr\_Creosote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Creosote)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/3 "2003-05-23T10:08:16Z")
Yeah, I found the same site. Unfortunately it doesn’t really help with the etymology though, just the definition. On a side note, does anyone know of this usage outside of financial (trading) circles? It seems to be pretty commonly used in investment banks, but the number of google cites seem to indicate that it may be confined to this area. Also can anyone shed some light on how long this term has been around? Anyone remember it being used during the 80s? ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/4 "2003-05-23T10:10:30Z")
Looks like “yard” in this context is short for “milliard”: > [@](#): > > The word ‘billion’ used to be ambiguous. In American English a billion is a thousand million; in old British English it used to mean a million million and it still does in some other languages. But in English the Americans have won: a billion is always a thousand million, and a trillion is always a million million. Because the words ‘million’ and ‘billion’ sound so similar, in spoken English the word ‘yard’ (a contraction of ‘milliard’) is often used as a synonym for a thousand million. [From here.](http://www.jdawiseman.com/books/pricing-money/pricing-money-chapter-1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/5 "2003-05-23T10:15:42Z")
[Wiktionary](http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Billion) reckons “milliard” comes from the French for “billion”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Creosote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Mr\_Creosote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Creosote)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/6 "2003-05-23T10:49:16Z")
Thanks Ice Wolf. In a final bit of irony, milliard now sounds almost like it should mean 1 million (ie milli-yard), hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/7 "2003-05-23T10:53:46Z")
Good theory, **Ice Wolf** , and it does sound plausible (a milliard, in case it wasn’t clear, was the British term for a thousand million back when a billion was a million million). But Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang gives “yard” as a term for “100 or 1000, usually of dollars”, dating back to the 1920s in the US. No etymology, unfortunately, so my guess is that this usage evolved from meaning 1000 dollars to 1000 _million_ dollars, among those who deal in such sums. Still doesn’t really help with where the term originally came from, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/8 "2003-05-23T10:59:10Z")
It’s a theory that’s been [previously expressed here at GQ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=634455&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending), **r\_k**. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-yard-billion/176997/9 "2003-05-23T12:04:01Z")
Just in case you misunderstood, I wasn’t doubting your post about the origin of “milliard”, only that “yard” is short for “milliard” in this case, when the dictionary suggests an earlier usage meaning “a thousand of something”. I couldn’t find anything discussing that in those threads.