different between billiards vs billiard

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?l??dz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?l.j?dz/
• Hyphenation: bil?liards

Etymology 1

From French billard, originally referring to the wooden cue stick, diminutive of Old French bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“large tree, tree trunk”)), from Proto-Celtic *belyos (“tree”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?olh?yos (“leaf”), from *b?leh?- (“blossom, flower”).

Noun

billiards (uncountable)

1. (games, Britain) A two-player cue sport played with two cue balls and one red ball, on a snooker sized table.

   Synonym: English billiards

2. (games, US) The collective noun for games played on a tabletop, usually with several balls, one or more of which is hit by a cue.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cue sport

Translations

See also

• pool
• snooker

Etymology 2

Noun

billiards

1. plural of billiard

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?l.i.?(?)d/

Noun

billiard (plural billiards)

1. A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue ball strikes two other balls; a carom.
2. (attributive) Pertaining to the game of billiards.

   a billiard table; a billiard ball

3. A dynamical system in which a particle alternates between motion in a straight line and specular reflections from a boundary.

Translations

Etymology 2

From French billiard, equivalent to bi- (“two”) +? -illiard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?l.i.??(?)d/

Numeral

billiard (plural billiards)

1. (Britain, rare) 10¹⁵, a thousand billion (long scale) or a million milliard.

Synonyms

• (10¹⁵): a short scale quadrillion

Translations

See also

• Previous: billion. Next: trillion.
• Symbolic: 10¹⁵ = 1,000,000,000,000,000

French

Etymology

From bi- (“two”) +? -illiard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.lja?/

Numeral

billiard

1. 10¹⁵, a thousand billion by the long scale, a short scale quadrillion.

Usage notes

• Previous: billion, 10¹²
• Next: trillion, 10¹⁸