兆
zhào
In Chinese, the word for trillion is 兆 (zhào). Wiktionary also lists 萬億 / 万亿 (wànyì).
Meaning: a million million, 1012 (num)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 兆 | zhào |
| 萬億 / 万亿 | wànyì |
The phrase refers to the number $10^{12}$, which is a million million.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 萬億 is literally composed of 萬 (ten thousand) and 億 (hundred million).
Which one should you use?
While 兆 can mean trillion, its meaning varies between $10^{12}$ and $10^{16}$ depending on the specific technical or regional context.
How do you pronounce it?
zhào
Did you know?
- The character 兆 began as a pictogram representing the cracks on a tortoise shell used during ancient divination rituals.
- In classical Chinese, 兆 was used to describe an omen or a sign of things to come, long before it became a standardized numeral.
Examples in context
- 全球财富达到了数兆美元。Quánqiú cáifù dádàole shù zhào měiyuán.Global wealth has reached several trillion US dollars.
Example conversation
Jiayi and Wei are discussing a large data set.
- 佳怡 Jiayi这些数据量真的很大。Zhèxiē shùjù liàng zhēn de hěn dà.The amount of data is really huge.
- 伟 Wei大约有一兆个字节。Dàyuē yǒu yī zhào gè zìjié.There are about a trillion bytes.
- 佳怡 Jiayi那需要多少存储空间？Nà xūyào duōshǎo cúnchǔ kōngjiān?How much storage space does that need?
- 伟 Wei伟会帮你计算空间。Wěi huì bāng nǐ jìsuàn kōngjiān.Wei will help you calculate the space.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “trillion” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 兆, CC BY-SA 4.0.
