一万亿
yī wàn yì
The English phrase "one trillion" is expressed in Chinese as 一万亿 (yī wàn yì).
一万亿 is used to represent the number equal to one thousand billion.
How does it change in a sentence?
Unlike English, which uses a scale of thousands (thousand, million, billion, trillion), Chinese uses a scale based on powers of ten thousand (万 wàn and 亿 yì).
How do you pronounce it?
yī wàn yì
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly try to translate "trillion" directly into a single Chinese word, but in standard Mandarin, it is expressed by combining 万 (ten thousand) and 亿 (hundred million).
Did you know?
- While 一万亿 is standard, you may see the character 兆 used for trillion in Taiwanese Mandarin or older texts, but in mainland China 兆 usually means one million.
- The character 亿 (yì) used in 一万亿 is often used in modern Chinese media to signify 'vastness' or 'uncountable amounts' even when the precise mathematical value is not strictly required.
- In English, we group numbers by threes (1,000, 1,000,000), but in Chinese, the number system is fundamentally built on groups of four digits. This means that while an English speaker sees 'one trillion' as a single unit, a Chinese speaker perceives it as 'ten thousand' units of 'one hundred million'.
Examples in context
- 我们公司的市值已经超过一万亿美元了。Our company's market value has already surpassed one trillion US dollars.
- 那家公司的市值超过一万亿。Nà jiā gōngsī de shìzhí chāoguò yī wàn yì.The market value of that company exceeds one trillion.
- 全球人口估计有八十亿，而财富总量可能达一万亿。Quánqiú rénkǒu gūjì yǒu bāshí yì, ér cáifù zǒngliàng kěnéng dá yī wàn yì.The global population is estimated at eight billion, while the total wealth could reach one trillion.
- 这个项目的预算高达一万亿人民币。Zhège xiàngmù de yùsuàn gāodá yī wàn yì rénmínbì.The budget for this project is as high as one trillion yuan.
Example conversation
Two colleagues are discussing the massive scale of a new national infrastructure fund.
- 浩然 Haoran听说这个基金的总额是一万亿吗？Tīng shuō zhège jījīn de zǒng'é shì yī wàn yì ma?I heard the total amount of this fund is one trillion?
- 晓雯 Xiaowen是的，规模非常庞大。Shì de, guīmó fēicháng pángdà.Yes, the scale is incredibly massive.
- 浩然 Haoran一万亿，真是天文数字。Yī wàn yì, zhēn shi tiānwén shùzì.One trillion, that is truly an astronomical figure.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen浩然，你得做好应对挑战的准备。Hàorán, nǐ děi zuò hǎo yìngduì tiǎozhàn de zhǔnbèi.Haoran, you need to be prepared to face the challenges.
