Million, Billion, Trillion, and Beyond
US English uses the short scale where each new name is 1,000 times the previous. (British English now also uses the short scale since 1974.)
Rules
- Each scale name multiplies by 1,000.
- Write numbers up to 999,999,999,999,999,999 by chunking into groups of three digits and naming each scale: 1,234,567 = one million two hundred thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven.
- Scale names are singular when they follow a number (five million, not five millions).
- Use a comma every three digits in the numeral (US), a period in many European locales.
Examples
| Input | In words |
|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | one million |
| 1,000,000,000 | one billion |
| 1,000,000,000,000 | one trillion |
| 1,000,000,000,000,000 | one quadrillion |
| 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 | one quintillion |
See also
- Spelling Money Amounts
How to write dollar amounts in words — for checks, contracts, and legal documents. Examples from $1 to $1,000,000. - Writing Numbers on a Check
Step-by-step: how to spell the amount on a US check, including cents, the word 'and', and common mistakes. - Ordinal Numbers
Ordinals tell position or rank — first, second, third, and so on. Here's the spelling for every ordinal from 1st to 100th. - Writing Dates in Words
How to write dates like 'April 23, 2026' or 'the 23rd of April' in full English words. - Saying Phone Numbers in Words
Standard ways to pronounce and write out a US phone number digit by digit. - Spelling Fractions
Fractions in English combine a cardinal (top) with an ordinal (bottom). Here's the rule and a table of common fractions. - Spelling Decimal Numbers
How to read and write decimals like 3.14 or 0.005 in English — digit by digit after the point. - Spelling Negative Numbers
Negatives are spelled with the word 'negative' (or 'minus') before the number.