Biljoen

Biljoen is a Dutch numeral denoting 10^12, that is, 1,000,000,000,000. It is part of the long-scale naming system traditionally used in the Netherlands and Flanders, where each new term after miljoen represents a thousand times the previous: miljard equals 10^9, biljoen equals 10^12, bilard equals 10^15, and triljoen equals 10^18.

In usage, biljoen appears in formal writing, economics, science, and astronomy when describing very large quantities. It is the standard Dutch term for this magnitude, and a typical example is a national budget or population figures phrased in trillions of units.

Relation to other languages: in English, the corresponding quantity is usually called a trillion in the short-scale system. The Dutch terms milijard (10^9) and biljoen (10^12) help distinguish magnitudes clearly for Dutch readers. The distinction between long-scale and short-scale naming has historically caused occasional confusion in translations between Dutch and English.

Notes: After biljoen, the next long-scale names are bilard (10^15) and triljoen (10^18). While the exact usage can vary by context or era, biljoen remains the conventional Dutch term for 10^12, and is widely understood in financial, scientific, and educational contexts.