What it means
میلیارد (milyârd) is the Persian word for one billion, that is, one thousand million or 10 to the power of 9. The word is borrowed from French milliard, which carries the same meaning and entered Persian through modern scientific and financial vocabulary. Unlike the American English “billion,” which is now universally 10^9, the French milliard has always meant exactly that amount, so the borrowing is precise. You will hear میلیارد in news broadcasts about government budgets, population figures, and international trade. The next step up is تریلیون (trilyun, “trillion”).
How to use it
- بودجه امسال ده میلیارد تومنه. (Budje-ye emsal dah milyârd tumane.) “This year’s budget is ten billion tomans.”
- جمعیت دنیا هشت میلیارده. (Jam’iyat-e donyâ hasht milyârde.) “The world’s population is eight billion.”
- این شرکت یه میلیارد دلار ارزش داره. (In sherkat ye milyârd dolâr arzesh dâre.) “This company is worth one billion dollars.”
- میلیاردها دلار هدر رفت. (Milyârdhâ dolâr hadar raft.) “Billions of dollars were wasted.”
Cultural note
Iran’s national currency, the rial, has faced significant inflation since the 1980s, so میلیارد is a word ordinary Iranians now use in everyday conversation about real estate, car prices, and savings. The informal Toman unit, which equals ten rials, is what most people actually use in daily transactions, and prices in the hundreds of millions or even billions of Tomans have become common. This gives میلیارد a very practical, not just abstract, role in modern Persian conversation.