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In Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Puerto Rico and most English-speaking countries, a trillion is 1012 or 1 000 000 000 000 (a one followed by twelve zeros) or one million million or (1 million)2. It is a thousand billion (short scale usage) or one thousandth of a quadrillion (short scale usage). The SI prefix for this number is tera.
While the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand traditionally employed the long scaleLong scale is the English translation of the French term chelle longue which designates a system of numeric names in which the word billion means a million millions. Short scale is the English translation of the French term chelle courte which designates usage, some years ago they largely switched to the short scale usage of 1012.
In all other countries and languages, a trillion (or its translated equivalent) is 1018 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 (a one followed by eighteen zeros) or 1 million million million or (1 million)3. The SI prefix for this number is exaExa (symbol E is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1018 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000. Adopted in 1991, it comes from the Greek , meaning six (like hexa-), because it is equal to 10006. See also SI prefix Binary prefix External link SI prefixes..
The history of trillion is described in the Long scaleLong scale is the English translation of the French term chelle longue which designates a system of numeric names in which the word billion means a million millions. Short scale is the English translation of the French term chelle courte which designates article.
For reasons of the ambiguity described above, some avoid the usage of the term trillion and instead use the corresponding millions (million million and million million million) or powers of ten (10^12 and 10^18) or SI prefixes (tera- and exa-) as appropriate.
However, many people use the word trillion to mean an unspecified large number. Then it falls into the same category as umpteenUmpteen is a slang term for an unspecified but somewhat large number, generally used in a humorous fashion or to imply that it is not worth the effort to pin down the actual figure. Usually it refers to the number of times something has happened, rather t and gazillionZillion and gazillion are fictitious very large numbers, often used to indicate that the figure being cited is uncertain but big. The terms 'a (ga)zillion' and ga)zillions' are used informally, meaning very many, as in the Zillions of Games software produ.
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