million

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪl.jən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English milioun (also mylion), borrowed from Old French million,^[2][3][4] probably from Old Italian millione (now milione),^[5][4][6] literally “a great thousand”, the augmentative of mille (“thousand”) with the suffix -one,^[2][6][7] from Latin mīlle (“thousand”), which is of uncertain origin.^[2] It is related to mile and millennium.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thousand thousands: before 1376, in Piers Plowman.^[3] From the start it was often used loosely for a very great number.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that in the West the word was used mainly by mathematicians until the 16th century; the ancient Greeks had no name for a number above ten thousand, and the Romans none above a hundred thousand, so that a million was decies centena milia, “ten hundred thousand”.^[2] From the 17th century the million meant the common people, the masses.^[7] The adjective is from 1694 and millionth from 1673.^[3] A million to one, as long odds, is from 1761.^[2] Millionaire appeared in the late 18th century according to the Word Origins dictionary,^[8] while Barnhart's first example is from Disraeli's Vivian Grey (1826), borrowed from French millionnaire.^[3] Billion and trillion were formed in French in the late 17th century.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1376 – a thousand thousands (Piers Plowman).^[3]
• 17th century – the million, the masses.^[7]
• 1673 – millionth.^[3]
• 1694 – adjective.^[3]
• 1761 – a million to one.^[2]
• 1826 – millionaire (Disraeli).^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The cardinal number equal to a thousand thousands, 10⁶.
2. A million units of money, such as pounds or dollars.
3. (often plural) An indefinitely large number.
4. (with the) The common people; the masses.

Adjective

1. Amounting to a million.

Word family

• millionfold
• millionth
• millionaire
• multimillion

Related words

• mile
• millennium
• billion

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press