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billion
[C/U] Both
pl: billionspast: nullpp: nulling: nullcomp: nullsup: null
This term is a frequent source of confusion due to the historical split between the short scale and long scale systems. In modern American and British English, it almost exclusively refers to a thousand million, whereas in some other European languages, it still represents a million million.
Countable when referring to the specific number as a mathematical unit ('one billion'). Uncountable when used as a collective mass to indicate a vast, indefinite quantity ('billions of stars').