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Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "billion" in Japanese?
10億
10 oku
In Japanese, "billion" is 10億 (10 oku).
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Pronunciation
Say juu OKU, two words together, with juu meaning ten and oku a huge Japanese counting unit, giving ten times a hundred million.
Writing and usage
10億 is written using kanji. It's a noun, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.
Example sentence
その会社の価値は10億ドルです。
sono kaisha no kachi ha 10 oku doru desu.
The company is worth a billion dollars.
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How to remember 10億
Juu oku sounds like 'you, oak, you' - picture ten giant oak trees each worth a hundred million to reach a billion.
Related words
- dozen 12 12
- hundred 百 hyaku
- thousand 千 sen
- million 百万 hyakuman
- half 半分 hanbun
- quarter 四分の一 yonbun no ichi
- double ダブル daburu
- triple トリプル toripuru
- first 一番目 ichibanme
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 10億
How do you pronounce 10億?
Say juu OKU, two words together, with juu meaning ten and oku a huge Japanese counting unit, giving ten times a hundred million.
Is 10億 formal or casual?
10億 is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.
How is 10億 written in Japanese?
10億 is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as 10 oku.
Where can I practice Japanese words for free?
You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.
"Billion" in other languages
Curated by Jack Ratcliffe
This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.
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