Definition:Gillion/Linguistic Note

Linguistic Note on Gillion

The word gillion derives from the metric scaling prefix giga- coupled with the generic suffix -illion to indicate a power of $10$.

Its pronunciation is ambiguous. The initial g can be either hard, as in gate, or soft, as in general (hence giving the pronunciation jill-i-on).

A purist would prefer the hard g, as it matches with the conventional pronunciation of giga-.

However, in certain variants of the English language, giga- itself can also apparently be pronounced with the g soft.