squillion

English

Etymology

See +‎ -illion

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈskwɪljən/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪljən

Noun

squillion (plural squillions)

  1. (slang, used hyperbolically) A very large, unspecified number (of).
    • 1974, Fynn, Mister God, This Is Anna, Ballantine Books (2000), →ISBN, pages 102-103:
      The word million was adequate for most things, billion came in handy on occasions, but if you wanted to use a word for a very, very large number, you just had to invent one. Anna invented one: a squillion.
    • 1990, Terry Pratchett, Eric, page 138:
      You thinks to yourself, ‘There’s a billion, trillion squillion of them, no one’s going to notice.’ But that’s where professionalism comes in, sort of thing.
    • 2004 May 7, Xaonon, “Re: Entropy”, in talk.origins‎ (Usenet):
      It'll just take a squillion times longer than the age of the universe to happen.
    • 2004 May 8, Noelle S. Alito, “Re: Entropy”, in talk.origins‎ (Usenet):
      I just ran the numbers and got 1.7 squillion, myself.

Synonyms

Translations
very large, unspecified number — see zillion

See also

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.