Sagan

The unit is derived from the phrase "billions and billions (of stars)", erroneously attributed to the American astronomer Carl Sagan. The lower bound of such a number must be two billion plus two billion, or four billion. Johnny Carson popularized the phrase through his occasional impersonation of Sagan throughout his career.

• IPA^(key): /ˈseɪɡən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɡən

Sagan (plural Sagans)

1. A surname.

• Sagan
• Saganian
• Saganite
• Sagan's number
• Sagan's paradox
• Sagan standard

Sagan (plural Sagans)

1. (slang, humorous) A unit of measurement equal to at least four billion.
   • 2014, Gabrielle Borisovna, Carl Sagan:

     Today, there is a well-known joke unit of measurement called a Sagan. a Sagan is four billion—the smallest number that could fit the description "billions and billions."

• sagan

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Sagan

1. A village in Sardasht Rural District, in the Central District of Bashagard County, Hormozgan Province, Iran.

Sagan

1. Alternative form of Sakan (village in West Azerbaijan, Iran).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Sagan

1. A river in southern Ethiopia.

   Alternative form: Segan

   • 1904, Oscar Neumann, From the Somali Coast Through Southern Ethiopia to the Sudan‎, U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 784:

     I had resolved to pass along the eastern shore of Lake Ganjule, in order to solve the problem of the sources of the river Sagan, the largest affluent of Lake Stefanie, which was supposed to flow out of Lake Ganjule. This I found to be not the case. The sources of the Sagan lie east of the south end of Lake Abaya. But there is a broad channel connecting Lake Ganjule with the Sagan.

2. A town in southern Ethiopia, named for the river.

• Sagan at dictionary.reference.com (Jargon File)
• William Safire, ON LANGUAGE; Footprints on the Infobahn, New York Times, April 17, 1994
• Carl Sagan, Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, Random House, 1997

• Agans, Angas, Nāgas, Sanga, gansa, nagas, nāgas, sanga

From sagan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsa.ɡan/
• Rhymes: -aɡan
• Syllabification: Sa‧gan

Sagan m pers

1. a male surname

Sagan f (indeclinable)

1. a female surname