十亿
shí yì
In Chinese, "one billion" is said as 十亿 (shí yì).
The phrase is used to express the number equal to one thousand million.
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, 十亿 means "ten hundred million" (ten units of one hundred million).
How does it change in a sentence?
Chinese counting systems use groups of four zeros (such as 万 wàn and 亿 yì) rather than the English system of three zeros (thousands, millions, billions).
How do you pronounce it?
shí yì
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly say 一十亿 by adding a "one" to the front. However, in Chinese, the number ten 十 is used directly for this unit without a leading "one".
Did you know?
- If you are writing a check or a formal document in Chinese, you should use the complex version of the characters, known as 'dashed' or 'financial' characters, to prevent fraud. For 十亿, one would use the more complicated forms of 'ten' and 'one hundred million' to make it impossible to alter the numbers.
- While 亿 is the standard word for one hundred million today, in ancient China it could refer to a number as large as ten million or even one hundred million depending on the dynasty.
- Because 亿 is such a massive unit, the phrase 亿万 is used as a common idiom to describe an uncountable or astronomical amount, similar to 'myriads' in English.
Examples in context
- 人口已经达到了十亿。Rénkǒu yǐjīng dádào le shíyì.The population has already reached one billion.
Example conversation
Two friends are discussing a news report about a large company's revenue.
- 伟 Wei你看，这家公司的年收入达到了十亿。Nǐ kàn, zhè jiā gōngsī de nián shōurù dádàole shíyì.Look, this company's annual income has reached one billion.
- 梓涵 Zihan真的吗？那简直太多了！Zhēnde ma? Nà jiǎnzhí tài duō le!Really? That's simply too much!
- 伟 Wei是的，他们去年增长得非常快。Shì de, tāmen qùnián zēngzhǎng de fēicháng kuài.Yes, they grew very quickly last year.
- 梓涵 Zihan我也希望能赚到这么多钱。Wǒ yě xīwàng néng zhuàn dào zhème duō qián.I also hope to earn that much money.
