Trillion (short Scale) (T)

General & non-SICurrent unit

One thousand billion (10¹²) in the short scale used in English.

1 trillion (short scale) = 1,000,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).

1 trillion (short scale) = 1,000,000,000,000 pieces

About the trillion (short scale)

A trillion is a thousand billion, 10¹², and its name fits the short-scale pattern in which each new name multiplies by a thousand: million, billion, trillion, quadrillion. The prefix tri- is Latin for three, and in Jehan Adam's 1475 scheme trimillion meant the third power of a million, 10¹⁸. That is still the long-scale meaning of trillion, so the short-scale trillion equals the long-scale billion.

The SI prefix for 10¹² is tera-. Where the long scale is used, including continental Europe, French Canada, and the Spanish-speaking Americas, the same word names 10¹⁸. A trillion seconds is about 31,700 years. Trillions turn up in energy statistics: an explainer from the U.S. Energy Information Administration cites U.S. natural gas consumption of 32.51 trillion cubic feet, which it converts to 33.61 quads.

Sources: Wikipedia: Names of large numbers; U.S. EIA: British thermal units (Btu); BIPM SI Brochure, 9th edition (2019)

Trillion (short Scale) conversion chart

1 trillion (short scale) expressed in every other counting & quantity unit:

Unit1 trillion (short scale)
Pieces1,000,000,000,000
Dozens83,333,333,333
Lakhs10,000,000
Millions1,000,000
Crores100,000
Billions (short Scale)1,000
Pairs500,000,000,000
Hundred10,000,000,000
Gross6,944,444,444
Thousand1,000,000,000
Score50,000,000,000
Half Dozens166,666,666,667
Quadrillions0.001
Reams2,000,000,000
Moles1.660539067×10⁻¹²
Baker's Dozens76,923,076,923
Small Gross8,333,333,333
Great Gross578,703,703.7
Myriads100,000,000
Yi / Oku10,000
Arab (Indian)1,000
Kharab (Indian)10
Billions (long Scale)1
Quires40,000,000,000

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