百万
hyakuman[ça̠kɯ̟mã̠ɴ]
The Japanese phrase for "one million" is 百万 (hyakuman).
百万 is used to express the number equal to one thousand thousands.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 百万 is composed of 百 (hundred) and 万 (ten thousand).
Which one should you use?
While English groups numbers by thousands (1,000,000), Japanese groups numbers by ten-thousands (100,0000). Therefore, 百万 is expressed as "one hundred ten-thousands".
How do you pronounce it?
hyakuman
Did you know?
- Japanese prices are often written as 100万 instead of 百万 in modern commercial settings. Using the Arabic numeral '100' followed by the character 万 is the standard way to make large figures readable at a glance.
- The term 百万 originates from the Middle Chinese compound 百萬.
- The characters in 百万 are often used in Japanese 'four-character idioms' to emphasize an overwhelming quantity of something, such as 'a million things' to do.
Examples in context
- 百万円の罰金だって？そんなの痛くもかゆくもないよ。A one million yen fine? That's nothing to me.This sentence shows how to use 百万 when discussing a specific amount of money.Tatoeba #926917 by bunbuku, translation #2699212 by WestofEden
- その戦争では百万人もの人命が失われた。One million people lost their lives in the war.This sentence demonstrates how to use 百万 when referring to a count of people.Tatoeba #2116046 by Blanka_Meduzo, translation #1544 by CK
- このアプリのダウンロード数は百万回を超えています。Kono apuri no daunrōdo sū wa hyakuman-kai o koete imasu.The number of downloads for this app exceeds one million.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about the views on a viral video.
- 健太 Kentaこの動画、もう百万回も再生されてるよ！Kono dōga, mō hyakuman-kai mo saisei sareteru yo!This video has already been viewed one million times!
- 結衣 Yui本当だ、すごい人気だね。Hontō da, sugoi ninki da ne.You're right, it's really popular.
- 健太 Kenta結衣もびっくりしたでしょ？Yui mo bikkuri shita desho?You were surprised too, weren't you, Yui?
- 結衣 Yuiうん、そんなに早く再生されるなんて思わなかった。Un, sonna ni hayaku saisei sareru nante omowanakatta.Yeah, I didn't think it would get that many views so fast.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry 百万, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 百万, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
