entry
million
/ˈmɪljən/The number 1,000,000; an indefinitely large amount
From Latin mille (thousand) + Italian one (augmentative suffix).
from Latin mille , which is of uncertain origin.
+1 more sourcefrom Latin mille , which is of uncertain origin.
+1 more sourcefrom Old French millon
from Italian millione (now milione ), literally "a great thousand," augmentative of mille "thousand,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French million (late 13c.)
from Middle French milion
from Middle English milioun
from Old French million (late 13c.)
Word Ancestry
from Latin mille , which is of uncertain origin.
+1 more sourcefrom Latin mille , which is of uncertain origin.
+1 more sourcefrom Old French millon
from Italian millione (now milione ), literally "a great thousand," augmentative of mille "thousand,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French million (late 13c.)
from Middle French milion
from Middle English milioun
from Old French million (late 13c.)
Before “million” existed, the Romans had to describe it with an ungainly phrase: decies centena milia, literally “ten hundred thousands.” Italian speakers improved matters by taking mille, “thousand,” and adding -one, an augmentative suffix—so milione was essentially “a great thousand.” The word crossed into Old French in the late 13th century and reached English as milioun by the late 14th, at first largely in the vocabulary of mathematicians. That history explains why million feels both precise and theatrical: it names exactly 1,000,000, yet people have always used it loosely for “an awful lot.” A million is therefore a linguistic escalation—one ordinary thousand, fitted with an Italian enlargement, then exported across Europe as numerical grandeur.
The Story
Before “million” existed, the Romans had to describe it with an ungainly phrase: decies centena milia, literally “ten hundred thousands.” Italian speakers improved matters by taking mille, “thousand,” and adding -one, an augmentative suffix—so milione was essentially “a great thousand.” The word crossed into Old French in the late 13th century and reached English as milioun by the late 14th, at first largely in the vocabulary of mathematicians. That history explains why million feels both precise and theatrical: it names exactly 1,000,000, yet people have always used it loosely for “an awful lot.” A million is therefore a linguistic escalation—one ordinary thousand, fitted with an Italian enlargement, then exported across Europe as numerical grandeur.
Kin & Kindred
From 'mille'·thousand
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'one'·augmentative suffix, “great” or enlarged
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia