miljoen

Miljoen is the Dutch word for the number 1,000,000. It denotes a million and is used in both formal and everyday language. In phrases you say een miljoen for one million, and you can attach any noun after it: drie miljoen mensen, vijf miljoen euro, etc. In many sentences the noun remains singular after a numeral: drie miljoen inwoners. The plural form miljoenen exists when referring to millions as a general quantity: Er wonen miljoenen mensen in dit land.

Etymology and related terms: Miljoen derives from the same root as the French million or Italian milione, ultimately linked to Latin mille meaning thousand and an augmentative ending. The Dutch form miljoen has become the standard spelling.

Numerical context in Dutch: In the naming of large numbers, Dutch traditionally uses the long-scale system. In this system 1 miljoen equals 10^6, 1 miljard equals 10^9, and 1 biljoen equals 10^12. This differs from the short-scale usage in some other languages, where a billion is 10^9 and a trillion is 10^12.

Usage conventions: In writing Dutch numbers, spaces are commonly used as thousands separators (for example, 1 000 000), and the decimal separator is a comma (for example, 3,14). Miljoen remains a stable unit in mathematics, economics, demographics, and everyday counting, enabling precise discussion of large quantities without resorting to longer phrases.