million [LME] In Latin mille means ‘a thousand’—as in *mile and millennium [M17th]. In million, the thousand got multiplied by itself. This seems to have happened in Italian, where the word millione (now milione) was formed. In 1956 Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm enjoyed great success with the duet ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ from Cole Porter’s High Society. The answer in the song is ‘I don’t’. Millionaires appeared in the late 18th century, with billionaire in the mid 19th century. Billion [L17th] was formed in French and appears to be formed from bi- ‘two’ for the second power of a million, with trillion [L17th] and quadrillion [L17th] the third and fourth. In the past billion has caused much confusion as in English it was a million million (a US trillion), while in the USA from the mid 19th century it meant a thousand million, but the American meaning is now the usual one.