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The numeral trillion refers to one of two number values, depending on the context of where and how it is being used. It is the largest numerical value in everyday non-scientific use in the English language.
Usage
In Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Puerto Rico and most English-speaking countries, a trillion is 1012 or 1 000 000 000 000 (a one followed by twelve zeros) or one million million or (1 million)2. It is a thousand billions (short scale usage) or one thousandth of a quadrillion (short scale usage). The SI prefix for this number is tera.
While the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand traditionally employed the long scale usage, some years ago they largely switched to the short scale usage of 1012.
In all other countries and languages, a trillion (or its translated equivalent) is 1018 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 (a one followed by eighteen zeros), a million billions (long scale usage) or 1 million million million or (1 million)3. The SI prefix for this number is exa.
History
The history of trillion is described in the Long scale article.
Ambiguity
For reasons of the ambiguity described above, some avoid the usage of the term trillion and instead use the corresponding millions (million million and million million million) or powers of ten (10^12 and 10^18) or SI prefixes (tera- and exa-) as appropriate.
However, many people use the word trillion to mean an unspecified large number. Then it falls into the same category as umpteen and gazillion.
See also
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