万亿 (wàn yì) — trillion (10¹², a thousand billions)

Definition

Chinese numeral for 10¹² (a thousand billions / one trillion in the short scale used in China). Pair with a smaller unit like 亿 to form larger figures (万亿, 千万亿).

numeral

trillion (10¹², a thousand billions)

Examples

万亿。
Měi guó de guó zhài yǐ jīng chāo guò sān shí wàn yì měi yuán.
The U.S. national debt has exceeded thirty trillion dollars.
GDP。
Quán qiú GDP dà yuē zài yì bǎi wàn yì měi yuán zuǒ yòu.
Global GDP is around one hundred trillion dollars.
。
Zhè ge xiàng mù de tóu zī yù jì dá dào wǔ wàn yì yuán.
The investment in this project is expected to reach five trillion yuan.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 億; 亿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

人人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

意

意yì億yì

Same sound today

The traditional form 億 pairs 人 (person) with 意 for its sound; the simplified 亿 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 亿 →

Appears in