Billion vs. Milliard: The Long Scale Confusion

Imagine reading a headline in a French newspaper: “The government announces a deficit of 1 billion euros.” An American tourist might shrug, thinking that sounds like a standard Tuesday in Washington D.C. A distinctively older British gentleman, however, might drop his tea cup in horror. Why? because depending on where you are and when you were born, that number could mean one thousand million, or it could mean one million million.

This isn’t a math problem; it is a linguistic tug-of-war that has confused translators, economists, and travelers for centuries. It is the battle between the Short Scale and the Long Scale.

In the world of linguistics, numbers are usually seen as constants. “One” is “uno”, “ein”, or “une”, but the value remains a singular entity. However, once you venture past number 1,000,000, the definitions start to drift. This phenomenon creates one of the most dangerous “false friends” in translation: the word billion.

The Two Contenders: Short Scale vs. Long Scale

To understand the confusion, we have to look at the logic—or lack thereof—behind how we name massive numbers.

The Short Scale (La Échelle Courte)

This is the system used currently in the United States, the United Kingdom (since 1974), and most English-speaking countries. It is based on powers of one thousand.

• Logic: Every new term is 1,000 times greater than the previous term.
• Reference: 1,000,000 is a Million.
• The Trap: To get to the next named number, you multiply by 1,000.
• Result: A “Billion” is 1,000 millions ($10^9$).

The Long Scale (La Échelle Longue)

This system is used throughout continental Europe (France, Germany, Spain, Italy), most of South America, and historically in Britain. It is based on powers of one million.

• Logic: Every new “-illion” term is 1,000,000 times greater than the previous “-illion” term.
• Reference: 1,000,000 is a Million.
• The Gap: So, what do you call 1,000 millions? Since it hasn’t reached the next “million” power yet, it gets a suffix of -ard. It becomes a Milliard.
• Result: A “Billion” is 1 million millions ($10^{12}$).

In the Long Scale, the word “billion” is strictly mathematical semantics: it represents a “bi-million” (a million to the power of two). Consequently, a “trillion” is a million to the power of three ($10^{18}$).

The Rise and Fall of the “Milliard”

The word milliard is the key to unlocking this linguistic puzzle. If you are learning French, German, or Spanish, you will encounter terms like milliard (French), Milliarde (German), or millardo (Spanish).

Mathematically, the Long Scale is arguably more elegant. It creates an alternating rhythm between the suffix -ion and -ard:

1. Million: $10^6$
2. Milliard: $10^9$ (Thousands of millions)
3. Billion: $10^{12}$ (Millions of millions)
4. Billiard: $10^{15}$ (Thousands of billions)
5. Trillion: $10^{18}$ (Millions of billions)

In the United States, the distinct term “milliard” was dropped early on in favor of the faster-paced Short Scale. Americans, favoring efficiency, decided that “one thousand million” didn’t need a special name like “milliard.” They just skipped straight to “billion.” While this made financial counting faster, it broke the etymological link. A US “billion” is not a “bi-million” mathematically; it is statistically a distinct entity.

A Brief History of the Transatlantic Split

How did English end up so divided from its European neighbors? Surprisingly, the blame—or credit—originated in France.

In the 15th century, French mathematician Nicolas Chuquet originally proposed the Long Scale (powers of a million). However, in the 17th century, a minority of French mathematicians began grouping numbers by thousands (Short Scale). The United States, forming its own identity in the 18th and 19th centuries, adopted this French “Short Scale.”

However, the French eventually decided the Short Scale was confusing and officially switched back to the Long Scale in 1948. They took the rest of Europe with them.

Britain, staunchly traditional, stuck with the Long Scale for centuries. For a Victorian banker in London, a billion was a million-million ($10^{12}$). But as American financial dominance grew in the 20th century, the disparity became dangerous. International trade deals were misinterpreted. Journalism became confusing.

Finally, in 1974, Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced that the UK government would officially adopt the Short Scale to align with the US. While this solved the trans-Atlantic confusion, it severed the linguistic link with the rest of Europe.

The Translator’s Nightmare: False Friends

For language learners and translators, the Billion/Milliard dichotomy is a high-stakes trap. It creates “False Friends”—words that look the same but have drastically different meanings.

Scenario 1: English to Spanish

You are translating a tech article. “The company was sold for $2 billion.”

• Incorrect Translation: “La empresa se vendió por 2 billones de dólares.”
• The Error: In Spanish, 2 billones is 2 trillion US dollars ($10^{12}$). You have just overstated the value by 1,000 times!
• Correct Translation: “La empresa se vendió por 2 mil millones de dólares” (two thousand millions) OR “2 millardos de dólares.”

Scenario 2: German to English

You are reading a German report: “Die Kosten betragen eine Billion Euro.”

• Incorrect Translation: “The costs amount to one billion euros.”
• The Error: The German Billion is the Long Scale $10^{12}$. In English, that is a trillion.
• Correct Translation: “The costs amount to one trillion euros.”

Global Linguistic Geography

Where do you stand? Here is a quick linguistic map of the world regarding large numbers:

Team Short Scale (1 Billion = $10^9$):
🇺🇸 USA, 🇬🇧 UK, 🇨🇦 Canada (English speaking), 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇧🇷 Brazil (a rare confusing outlier which uses “bilhão” for $10^9$), and the world of international finance.

Team Long Scale (1 Billion = $10^{12}$):
🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇷🇺 Russia (mostly), and most of French-speaking Canada.

The “Myriad” Systems:
It is worth noting that many Asian languages, including Chinese ($Wàn, Yì$) and Japanese ($Man, Oku$), step outside this conflict entirely. They use a system based on myriads (groups of 10,000), making the Western Billion/Milliard debate entirely irrelevant to their internal logic.

Conclusion: Context is King

Language is rarely about strict logic; it is about usage, history, and cultural exchange. The transition of the word “billion” is a testament to how global economics can reshape vocabulary. The American “Short Scale” won the war of hegemony due to the dominance of the US dollar, causing the UK to fold and changing the way English speakers perceive value.

However, the Long Scale remains partially superior in its etymological consistency, preserving the Latin roots of bi- and tri- relative to the million. Furthermore, the word milliard serves a useful distinction that English has lost.

For the aspiring linguist or translator, the lesson is simple: never assume a number is just a number. When you see the word “billion” in a foreign text, pause and ask yourself: are we counting in thousands, or are we counting in millions?