10億
jūoku
The Japanese word for billion is 10億 (jūoku).
The term is used to express the number 1,000,000,000 (a thousand million).
Meaning: a thousand million (1,000,000,000), a milliard (num)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is composed of the number 10 (jū) and the counter for 100,000,000 (oku), literally meaning 10億.
How does it change in a sentence?
Japanese counts in units of ten thousand (10,000) rather than thousands as in English. Therefore, a billion is expressed as ten units of one hundred million.
How do you pronounce it?
jūoku
Did you know?
- The character 億 originates from an ancient meaning of 'counting' or 'to calculate' before it became a specific numeral for 100,000,000.
- In financial news, the character 億 is often replaced by the English 'B' or 'billion' to avoid the mental math required to convert four-digit blocks to three-digit blocks.
- The counter 億 (oku) is also used for abstract concepts of 'vastness' or 'countless' in certain poetic contexts, much like 'millions' is used in English.
Examples in context
- 世界の人口は十億を超えました。The world's population has exceeded a billion.
- 予算は10億円です。Yosan wa ju-oku en desu.The budget is one billion yen.
- 人口が10億人を超えました。Jinkou ga ju-oku nin o koemashita.The population exceeded one billion people.
- 10億ドルの契約を結びました。Ju-oku doru no keiyaku o musubimashita.We signed a one billion dollar contract.
Example conversation
The two are talking about a huge lottery prize.
- 大翔 Hirotoもし10億円当たったらどうする？Moshi jū-oku en atattara dō suru?What would you do if you won one billion yen?
- 陽葵 Himari家を建てて、旅行に行きたいな。Ie o tatete, ryokō ni ikitai na.I'd want to build a house and go traveling.
- 大翔 Hirotoいいなあ。僕なら全部貯金するよ。Ii naa. Boku nara zenbu chokin suru yo.That's nice. I would save all of it.
- 陽葵 Himari大翔は本当に慎重だね。Hiroto wa hontō ni shinchō da ne.Hiroto, you are really cautious.
