Biljon

Biljon is a numeral used in several Nordic languages to denote the quantity 1,000,000,000,000 (10^12). It is part of the long-scale naming system, in which each new term after million represents a thousand times the previous one: million (10^6), miljard (10^9), biljon (10^12), biljard (10^15). In this usage, biljon corresponds to what many English speakers would call a trillion.

The term is most common in Swedish and Norwegian contexts, where biljon is the standard designation for 10^12. For example, 2 biljoner equals 2,000,000,000,000. The word belongs to the -illion family that arose from the long-scale tradition, with etymological roots in Latin and French influences that helped shape the early numeral system across European languages.

Across languages and historical periods, there can be confusion between long-scale and short-scale naming conventions. In English and many modern contexts, the short-scale term for 10^12 is trillion, not biljon. As a result, when biljon appears in multilingual or international texts, it is often necessary to specify the exact value to avoid misinterpretation. In some nearby linguistic traditions, related terms and different conventions may appear, underscoring the importance of clear numerical labeling in cross-language communication.