cho

Trendy cute prefix that can be added on to the front of adjectives in Japanese to mean something like super or extra. "Cho-veri-gu" means super-very-good.

兆

The Japanese word (chô) for "one trillion" or 10¹². Japanese uses a system of counting based on 10,000 instead of 1,000, and cho is the only commonly-used major number that translates directly to a Western name for a power of 1,000.

Sample uses of the character:

• 一兆 (itchô) one trillion, 10¹²
• 拾兆 (jûchô) ten trillion, 10¹³ (the character 拾 is a more formal version of the commonly-used 十 for "ten"; both have the same pronunciation)
• 百兆 (hyatchô or hyakuchô) one hundred trillion, 10¹⁴
• 千兆 (senchô) one quadrillion, literally "thousand trillion", 10¹⁵

After chô comes the rarely-used kei (京) which represents 10¹⁶. The only time I have used anything larger than 兆 in conversation was when I discussed an American frivolous lawsuit filed against numerous large entities for polluting the planet. The plaintiffs wanted US$100 trillion (百兆ドル, hyatchô doru) or (at the time) ¥1.2 × 10¹⁶ (一京二千兆円, ikkei nizenchô en). Scientists in Japan use the SI system and scientific notation in lieu of kanji for extremely large numbers.