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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Milliard: "obsolete" or not?

We're trying to hash this out in the Wikipedia article, .
It seems clear that dictionaries do include the word "milliard," do not identify it as obsolete, and of course define it to mean a thousand million. It seems clear that the word is used in other European languages.
However, I'm not so sure that dictionaries are reliable here. For example, all dictonaries include the names for the higher powers of a million/billion, even though numbers like sextillion, septillion, octillion, etc. are at best trivia curiosities (nobody who wishes to express numbers in those ranges does so by using these words).

So. Outside of dictionaries, tabular presentations of the names of numbers, or natural usage by non-English speakers when speaking English...
...is the word "milliard" really being used currently, in speech or writing, by a native English-speakers in English?
(Maybe I should say "used to represent the number one thousand million," since it's also a not-very-rare surname...)

Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith at world dot ess tee dee dot com "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at /
  

Top answer

[/nq] I can't say I use it, but I don't think I'd consider it ridiculously obscure if I came across it perhaps a bit precious, but not resolutely weird or archaic. Cheers, Harvey Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years; Southern England for the past 22 years. van)

— Usenet

  • [/nq] I can't say I use it, but I don't think I'd consider it ridiculously obscure if I came across it perhaps a bit precious, but not resolutely weird or archaic.
  • Cheers, Harvey Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years; Southern England for the past 22 years.
  • van)
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61 Answers
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[nq:1]...is the word "milliard" really being used currently, in speech or writing, by a native English-speakers in English?[/nq]
I can't say I use it, but I don't think I'd consider it ridiculously obscure if I came across it perhaps a bit precious, but not resolutely weird or archaic.

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England fo
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[nq:1]We're trying to hash this out in the Wikipedia article, . It seems clear that dictionaries do include the ... "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at /[/nq]
Has it not now b
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[nq:1]We're trying to hash this out in the Wikipedia article, . It seems clear that dictionaries do include the ... clear that the word is used in other European languages. However, I'm not so sure that dictionaries are reliable here.[/nq]
They are too. The inclusion of a word's definition is no indication of how much the word is used.
[nq:1]For example, all dictonaries include the names
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[nq:2]We're trying to hash this out in the Wikipedia article, ... However, I'm not so sure that dictionaries are reliable here.[/nq]
I wouldn't say the OED is totally so on this word. It says "milliard: n. Brit. one thousand million."
which implies to me it is still the common British term for a billion.
[nq:1]They are too. The inclusion of a word's definition is no indication of how m
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[nq:1]...is the word "milliard" really being used currently, in speech or writing, by a native English-speakers in English? (Maybe I should say "used to represent the number one thousand million," since it's also a not-very-rare surname...)[/nq]
It is current in European community documents,
Jan
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[nq:2]Nonsense.[/nq]
[nq:1]You mistake a popular manner of speaking for an absolute statement of fact. Obviously, some people at least occasionally use ... the occasions are relatively few. That is what the poster meant, as almost any native speaker of English would realize.[/nq]
"At best trivia curiosities" strikes me as a lot more specific than a colloquial exaggeratt
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Steve Howarth filted:
[nq:1]Has it not now been completely superceded by "billion"?[/nq]
Hard to say...has "superseded" been superseded by "superceded"?...

(Sorry...it's just that it's one of my favorite "most misspelled words")..r
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[nq:1]We're trying to hash this out in the Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion . It seems clear that dictionaries do include the ... course define it to mean a thousand million. It seems clear that the word is used in other European languages.[/nq]
Well, for a start it is the French for billi
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[nq:1]Steve Howarth filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]Has it not now been completely superceded by "billion"?[/nq]
[nq:1]Hard to say...has "superseded" been superseded by "superceded"?...[/nq]
Google gives:
superseded -superceded 737,000
superceded -superseded 235,000
So it's certainly up there in the stakes, but not yet in the realm of "ad nauseam/um" (for which, last time I looked, th
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[nq:1]Steve Howarth filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]Has it not now been completely superceded by "billion"?[/nq]
[nq:1]Hard to say...has "superseded" been superseded by "superceded"?... (Sorry...it's just that it's one of my favorite "most misspelledwords")..r[/nq]
Well, blow me. I never knew that.
Steve Howarth
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