십억
sibeok[ɕʰibʌ̹k̚]
The English phrase "billion" is translated into Korean as 십억 (sibeok).
Meaning: a thousand million (1,000,000,000), a milliard (num)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is composed of 십 (ten) and 억 (one hundred million).
How does it change in a sentence?
Unlike English, which uses a scale of thousands, Korean counting is based on units of ten thousand (만, 억, 조), so one billion is expressed as ten units of one hundred million.
How do you pronounce it?
sibeok
Did you know?
- The word 십억 is a Sino-Korean word, meaning it is derived from Chinese characters, which is typical for large numbers in Korean whereas small numbers use native Korean words.
- The character 億 in the Sino-Korean spelling of 십억 is the same character used in Japanese to denote one hundred million, showing a shared mathematical history in East Asia.
- While 십억 is the number, Korean speakers often use the word 억대 when talking about salaries or house prices to describe anything in the range of hundreds of millions or billions.
Examples in context
- 그 회사가 작년에 십억엔의 손실을 보았다.The company suffered a loss of one billion yen last year.This sentence is useful for seeing how to express a loss of one billion yen using 십억.Tatoeba #2885860 by cueyayotl, translation #49092 by CK
- 오 십억5 billion
- 그 집은 십억 원이 넘어요.geu jibeun sip-eog won-i neomeoyo.That house costs more than a billion won.
- 인구가 십억 명에 달합니다.inga-ga sip-eog myeong-e dalhamnida.The population reaches a billion people.
Example conversation
Hyunwoo and Jieun are discussing a luxury real estate investment.
- 현우 Hyeon-woo지은 씨, 이 건물 가격이 얼마나 되나요?jieun ssi, i geonmul gageogi eolmana doenayo?Jieun, how much is this building?
- 지은 Ji-eun가격이 거의 십억 원 정도 해요.gagegi geoui sibeok won jeongdo haeyo.The price is nearly one billion won.
- 현우 Hyeon-woo생각보다 훨씬 비싸네요.saenggakboda hwolssin bissaneyo.It's much more expensive than I thought.
- 지은 Ji-eun네, 정말 고급 건물이라서 그래요.ne, jeongmal gogeup geonmuliraseo geuraeyo.Yes, it's because it's a very high-end building.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “billion” translations and entries 십억, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 십억, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
