The Chinese word 十亿 (shí yì), meaning "one billion," is formed through a logical, multiplicative combination of its two characters: 十 (shí), meaning "ten," and 亿 (yì), meaning "hundred million." In the Chinese numeral system, larger numbers are constructed by stating a multiplier followed by a unit. Here, 十 acts as the multiplier, and 亿 acts the base unit. Therefore, 十亿 literally translates to "ten hundred-million," which mathematically equals 10 x 100,000,000, resulting in 1,000,000,000 (one billion). This structure is consistent with how East Asian numeral systems group numbers by ten-thousands (万 wàn) rather than the Western thousands-based grouping.