tril ‧ lion /ˈtrɪljən/ BrE AmE number ( plural trillion or trillions )
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: French ; Origin: tri- 'three' + -illion (as in million ) ]
1 . the number 1,000,000,000,000:
In a short time the number of cells is more than a trillion.
two/three/four etc trillion
$5.3 trillion
Japan’s exports were worth $43 trillion last year.
trillions of pounds/dollars etc
the trillions of dollars in the bond markets
2 . informal an extremely large number of people or things
a trillion
a shirt with a trillion holes in it
trillions of
We’ve made this mistake trillions of times before.
3 . British English old use the number 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
—trillionth adjective
—trillionth noun [countable]