yen

¹ American  

[yen] / yɛn /

noun

1. an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Japan, equal to 100 sen or 1000 rin. ¥; Y

2. a former silver coin of Japan.

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yen ² American  

[yen] / yɛn /

noun

1. a desire or craving.

   I had a yen for apple pie.

   Synonyms:

   appetite, hunger, hankering, longing

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verb (used without object)

yens, present (3rd person singular) yenned, past participle, past yenning present participle

1. to have a craving; yearn.

yen ¹ British  

/ jɛn /

noun

1. a passionate, ardent, or intense longing or desire

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verb

1. (intr) to yearn

yen ² British  

/ jɛn /

noun

1. the standard monetary unit of Japan, (notionally) divided into 100 sen

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yen Idioms  

1. see have a yen for.

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Usage

What does yen mean? Yen is a monetary unit of Japan similar to a dollar. It comes in the form of a coin that’s also called a yen. The symbol for yen is ¥. Like a dollar, it can be divided into 100 parts called sen (though sen are not used in practice). The plural of yen is yen. Unrelatedly, yen is a slang term meaning a strong craving, desire, or yearning. It’s especially used in the phrase have a yen for. It can also be used as a verb meaning to crave or strongly desire. Example: Ever since I came back from Italy, I’ve had a yen for fresh pasta.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• yen
  plural

Conjugated Forms

Present

• has yenned
  perfect 3rd person singular
• have yenned
  perfect
• has been yenning
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• are yenning
  progressive
• is yenning
  progressive 3rd person singular
• yens
  singular 3rd person
• yenning
  participle
• am yenning
  progressive 1st person singular
• have been yenning
  perfect progressive

Past

• had yenned
  perfect
• was yenning
  progressive singular
• had been yenning
  perfect progressive
• yenned
  simple
• were yenning
  progressive plural
• yenned
  participle

Future

• will yen
  simple
• will have yenned
  perfect
• will be yenning
  progressive
• will have been yenning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of yen¹

1870–75; < Japanese ( y ) en < Chinese yuán yuan

Origin of yen²

1905–10, probably < dialectal Chinese (OAGuangdong) yáhn, akin to Chinese yǐn craving, addiction

Explanation

Besides being the name of the Japanese currency, yen (a different yen) means a casual desire. You can have a yen for sushi, and if you're in Japan, you can pay for the sushi with the yen in your wallet. Yen is a casual word––think of it like "hankering." If you have an easy time remembering rhymes, think "I sometimes have a yen, to go back home again." Sometimes yen can even work as a verb––you can yen for pancakes, or yen for truffles, or yen for a time when you yenned for things other than food.

Example Sentences

Nomura now sees better prospects for Kioxia’s sales and profit growth through fiscal year ending March 2029, and raises the stock’s target price to 115,000 yen from Y68,000 with an unchanged buy rating.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

Morningstar raises its fair-value estimate for Advantest by 3% to 35,000 yen after lifting its system-on-chip tester revenue estimate by 3%.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026

While that has initially benefited the yen, the currency remains heavy at just below 160 against the greenback, said Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

The cheap yen provides two ways to win.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

“He’s got a yen for poetry, Mr. Randolph does.”

From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson