yen
/jɛn/
yen noun: the unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.
Noun (1)
yen (plural yen)
- The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.
- Passing by those clauses of it which demand no notice, we arrive at that which provides that "each proposal (for purchase) must state the price per picul of rice in gold yen." But why in gold yen, a coin as yet so scarce as to be almost beyond the ken of the foreign merchant?1872 February 24, “The Export of Rice”, in The Japan Weekly Mail: A Political, Commercial, and Literary Journal, volume III, number 8, Yokohama: ジャパンメール新聞社 [Japan Meru Shinbunsha], →OCLC, page 95...
- Does any one however believe that Japan's glorious achievements would have been possible, if the Government of that country had merely poured money like water on its standing battalions, unaugmented by reserves, and the magnificent spirit of every man, woman and child in that country had not been...1906 March 28, G[opal] K[rishna] Gokhale, “Budget Speech, 1906”, in Speeches of the Honourable Mr. G. K. Gokhale, C.I.E., Madras: Published by G[anapathi] A[graharam] Natesan & Co., Esplanade...
- A coin or note worth one yen.
- When banks lend, they create money out of nothing, without withdrawing it from other parts of the economy. This way, fiscal policy would not have crowded out private-sector activity yen by yen, as actually happened.2003, Richard Werner, “Preface”, in Princes of the Yen: Japan’s Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy, Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN
Noun (2)
yen (plural yens)
- A strong desire, urge, or yearning.
- humankind's yen for knowledge
- She repeated the words: "You for me and me for you," then hummed: "Two for tea and tea for two …" Her voice trailed off … "All I got is a yen for Diana and my sweet little cute little Zigzag."1934, Lew Levenson, chapter XX, in Butterfly Man, New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, [1960?], →OCLC, page 208
Verb
yen (third-person singular simple present yens, present participle yenning, simple past and past participle yenned)
- To have a strong desire for.
- Yenning, groaning, longing after.[1876, F[rancis] K[ildale] Robinson, A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Whitby (Series C. Original Glossaries, and Glossaries with Fresh Additions; IV), London: Published for the...
- "Listen, I'm in Tom Bleutcher's suite at The Brompton House. Been here the whole Almighty morning. Olga wants you to have lunch with us." / "Olga? Who's she?" / "His daughter. You made a big hit with her last time they was in town. Come on down." / "Get the new writer." / "I got no new writer....1953, Alfred Bester, “Who He?”, New York, N.Y.: Dial Press, →OCLC, page 205
Noun (3)
yen (uncountable)
- Opium.
- Synonyms:
- aunti/aunti Emma, big O, chandu, Chinese tobacco, dopium, dream gun, dream stick, fi-do-nie, gee, God's medicine
Proper noun capitalized: Yen
Yen
- Alternative form of Yan (ancient kingdom)
- [...]Nothing but War was to be ſeen among ſo many different States, and their mutual Invaſions reduced the Empire into ſeven great Kingdoms, which were called Tſin, Tſou, Yen, Tchao, Han, Iſi, Ouei: The Kingdom of Yen, which at that time comprehended no more than the preſent Province of Petche li...1739 [1735], P. Du Halde, “Geographical Obſervations on the Kingdom of Corea”, in The General History Of China, 2nd edition, volume IV, →OCLC, page 388
- 9. Kingdom of Yen 燕
- Táking situated in lat. 39° 54' N., long. 116° 28' E., one of the districts of Shuntien fú in Chihlí, now occupies the site of the capital of the ancient kingdom of Yen, the most northern part of the empire under the reign of the Chau dynasty.1849 August, “Annals of Confucius; or Chronology and Geography of the Chun Ts'iu”, in The Chinese Repository, volume XVIII, number 8, →OCLC, page 397
yen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
yen in Hindi
- unit of Japanese currency
- येन yen
yen in Tamil
- யென்
yen in Marathi
- unit of Japanese currency
- येन yen
- coin or note of one yen
- येन yen
yen in Urdu
- یین
More languagesFewer languages
- yen in Bengali
- ইয়েন
- yen in Telugu
- యెన్
- yen in Malayalam
- യെൻ, യേൻ, യെന്നെ
- yen in Kannada
- ಯೆನ್
- yen in Punjabi
- ਯੇਨ, ਯੈੱਨ
- yen in Gujarati
- યેન
- yen in Odia
- ଯ଼େନ୍, ଯ଼େନ
- yen in Nepali
- येन
- yen in Tagalog
- yen
- yen in Arabic
- يَن yan
- yen in Malay
- yen
- yen in Indonesian
- yen
- yen in Persian
- ین yen
- yen in Thai
- เยน yeen
- yen in Vietnamese
- yên
- yen in Myanmar
- ယန်းငွေ yan:ngwe
Examples of yen in a sentence
- Japan's ordinary budget for the Army is only about 37.3 millions yen, or a little under six crores of rupees.1906 March 28, G[opal] K[rishna] Gokhale, “Budget Speech, 1906”, in Speeches of the Honourable Mr. G. K. Gokhale, C.I.E., Madras: Published...
- Like most middle-westerners, I have never had any but the vaguest race prejudices—I always had a secret yen for the lovely Scandinavian blondes who sat on porches in St.1936 February, F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Crack-Up”, in Esquire:
- Sometimes have a yen to get one of them in bed.1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, published 1955 (France), page 342:
- Lewis warned, "The yen to publish is spiritually dangerous." The "yen" in this case is spread around, so perhaps the danger is diminished!1992, Peter Jordan, “Acknowledgements”, in Re-Entry: Making the Transition from Missions to Life at Home, Seattle, Wash.: YWAM Publishing...
Synonyms of yen
24 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of yen
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | yen |
| plural | yens |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | yens |
| present participle | yenning |
| past participle | yenned |
| past | yenned |
Origin of yen
From Medhurst and Hepburn’s romanizations, under the influence of earlier Portuguese romanizations, of Japanese 圓(えん) (en, “round; a round object”) as ye or yen, now 円(えん) (en), from Chinese 銀圓 /银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”): 銀 /银 (yín, “silver”) + 圓 /圆 (yuán, “circular, round; yuan, yen, dollar”). Cognate with Chinese 元 (yuán, “monetary unit, especially RMB”) and Korean 원 (won, “North or South Korean won”). Doublet of won and yuan.
Origin uncertain, but probably from Cantonese 癮 /瘾 (jan⁵, “craving”) originally in reference to opium addiction, 煙癮 /烟瘾 (jin¹ jan⁵) or 菸癮 /烟瘾 (jin¹ jan⁵): 煙 /烟 (jin¹), 菸 /烟 (jin¹, “smoke, specifically opium”). Compare the later yen (“opium”) and yen-yen.
From Mandarin 煙 /烟 (yān), 菸 /烟 (yān), or Cantonese 煙 /烟 (jin¹), 菸 /烟 (jin¹, “smoke, specifically opium”). Compare the earlier yen (“strong desire”) and later yen-yen.
Words formed from yen
Phrases with yen
Words that rhyme with yen
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about yen
- What does yen mean?
- Yen means the unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.
- What is yen in Hindi?
- Yen in Hindi is येन (yen). See Yen meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use yen in a sentence?
- Japan's ordinary budget for the Army is only about 37.3 millions yen, or a little under six crores of rupees.
- What part of speech is yen?
- Yen can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce yen?
- Yen is pronounced /jɛn/.
- What is the plural of yen?
- The plural of yen is yen.
Words near yen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yen (page history and authors); Yen (page history and authors); yen (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yen (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-yen.ogg.
Cite this entry: “yen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.