懂中文 Dong Chinese

億

yì

hundred million

Original meaning: 

quiet; at rest

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 意 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "quiet; at rest". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components
亻 meaning component

亻  Meaning component

rén

  

person

亻 is a component form of 人.

意 sound component

意  Sound component

yì

  

thought

Evolution

億 Bronze script Early Warring States (~400 BC)

Bronze script

Early Warring States (~400 BC)
億 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
億 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
億 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

亿 (億) 

yì

hundred million; many; 100 million

Most common words with 億
Freq.
Word
Meaning

数十亿

several billion

亿

100 million

数以亿计

countless

亿万

millions and millions

十亿

giga-