Vigintillions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A numerical term representing the value of 10 to the power of 63, used in mathematics to quantify extremely large amounts
2. A figure in the field of mathematics indicating the digit 1 followed by 63 zeros, commonly utilized for illustrating vast quantities
3. An expression denoting an immense number formed by the base ten raised to the sixty-third exponent, rarely encountered in practical contexts

Etymology: "Vigintillions" is the plural of "vigintillion," a name for a very large number. The word is built from "viginti," the Latin word for twenty, and the suffix "-illion," which comes from the "million" pattern used in large-number naming. The naming follows a system in which each step up adds a Latin-derived prefix: "million" is a thousand-thousand, "billion" is a million-million, and so on, with the number of zeros growing as the prefix counts higher. In that scheme, "vigintillion" corresponds to a Latin number prefix for twenty, placing it among the large names that follow the pattern of million, billion and trillion. Because the naming of such numbers is systematic rather than everyday, the word appears mostly in reference works and discussions of mathematics rather than ordinary speech.