億 meaning and stroke order
Hundred million; many
How to write 億, stroke by stroke
15 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 億
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- 100 million
How 億 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. People.
亻 gives the meaning and 意 hints at the sound.
Radical: 亻 (man), shared by 277 characters on this site.
How to remember 億
億 is pictophonetic: the person radical 亻 gives the meaning of people, and 意 (yì) gives the sound. Picture a crowd of people so large you can only count them in hundreds of millions.
億 is the traditional form, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, while mainland China writes 亿. It is a basic number unit in large figures and money, as in 十億 (shíyì) one billion. Example: 這個國家有十四億人。(Zhège guójiā yǒu shísì yì rén.) This country has 1.4 billion people.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 億 with 意 (yì, meaning) or 憶 (yì, to remember), since all three are read yì and share 意. Only 億 has the person radical 亻 on the left. 憶 has the heart radical 忄.
Common words with 億
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 億
How many strokes are in 億?
億 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 億 mean?
億 (yì) means hundred million; many. A common word with it is 十亿 (shíyì), meaning "one billion; giga-".
How do you pronounce 億?
億 is pronounced yì, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 億?
The radical of 億 is 亻, which carries the idea of "man". Dictionaries list 億 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 億?
億 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 亿, used in mainland China and Singapore.
How do I say one billion in Chinese using 億?
Chinese counts large numbers in units of 萬 (wàn, ten thousand) and 億 (yì, one hundred million). One billion is 十億 (shíyì), literally ten hundred-millions. So 1.4 billion is 十四億 (shísì yì).
Can 億 mean many, not just an exact number?
Yes. In words like 億萬 (yìwàn), millions and millions, it suggests a huge, uncountable amount. For example, 億萬富翁 (yìwàn fùwēng) means a billionaire or a very rich person.