億
hundred million, 10**8
Readings
On'yomi
- オク
Kun'yomi
—
Nanori
- お
Meaning
億 centers on the vast number one hundred million (10^8), a concept used for counting extremely large quantities.
Most common words using 億
- 億おくN5
hundred million; 100,000,000; 10^8
- 億劫おっくうN1
troublesome; bothersome; tiresome; annoying
- 億ションおくション
apartment worth 100 million yen or more; luxury apartment
- 一億いちおくN5
100,000,000; one hundred million
- 100億ひゃくおく
10,000,000,000; ten billion
- 十億じゅうおく
1,000,000,000; billion
- 数億年すうおくねん
several hundred million years
- 億万おくまん
millions and millions
- 一億一心いちおくいっしん
national unity (esp. during wartime)
- 一億総中流いちおくそうちゅうりゅう
all-Japanese-are-middle-class mentality
- 一億総懺悔いちおくそうざんげ
national confession of Japanese war guilt (1945)
- 一億総白痴化いちおくそうはくちか
transformation of the population of Japan into idiots (because of television)
- 億り人おくりびと
person who has a fortune of at least one hundred million yen; millionaire
- 億万長者おくまんちょうじゃ
billionaire; multimillionaire; very rich person
- 億兆おくちょう
the people; multitude; masses
- 億劫がるおっくうがる
to show unwillingness (to do); to be reluctant (to do); to look annoyed; to show signs of finding something bothersome
- 十万億土じゅうまんおくど
eternity; paradise
- 千億せんおく
100,000,000,000; hundred billion
- 巨億きょおく
millions; vast fortune
Study
Etymology
億 combines 亻 (person) with 意, which likely contributes the sound. The character was used to represent a large number, possibly from the idea of a person's thoughts (意) being countless.
Meaning mnemonic
A person (亻) trying to count to a hundred million would need immense thoughts (意). Imagine someone deep in thought, overwhelmed by the sheer size of 100,000,000.
Reading mnemonic
For オク, picture an octopus with a hundred million tentacles: octopus -> オク, and the person (亻) is lost in thought (意) trying to count them all.