SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN noun, plural yen. an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Japan, equal to 100 sen or 1000 rin. Symbol Abbreviation
a former silver coin of Japan.
Origin of yen 1 1870–75; <
Japanese (
y)en <
Chinese yuán yuan noun a desire or craving: I had a yen for apple pie.
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verb (used without object), yenned, yen·ning. to have a craving; yearn.
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Origin of yen 2 1905–10, Americanism dialectal Chinese (OAGuangdong) yáhn, akin to Chinese yǐn craving, addiction
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for yen desire ,
urge ,
itch ,
hankering ,
longing ,
hunger ,
thirst ,
lust ,
yearning ,
passion ,
craving Examples from the Web for yen Contemporary Examples of yen Day tickets at Asahidake (www.wakasaresort.com) cost 4,000 yen .
Lift Tickets: Day tickets at Niseko (www.niseko.ne.jp) are 5,900 yen , during the high season; multi-day passes are available.
Her yen for juxtaposition of pretty and ugly, water and tar, public and private, can be seen in the smallest moments.
The value of the yen is falling exactly as planned, and Japanese stocks on the Nikkei are doing very well.
He says his payments include 100,000 yen a month for “mental damage.”
Historical Examples of yen But of all the changes in the village, the most momentous to me was the change in Yen Sin.
I am sure he did not see me on the bench; he was looking at Yen Sin.
Yen Sin held it up before his eyes in the full glow of the lamp.
And this was Urkey village, and night, and Yen Sin was dying.
Yen Sin wasn't laughing himself; he was looking at his collars.
British Dictionary definitions for yen noun plural yen the standard monetary unit of Japan, (notionally) divided into 100 sen
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Word Origin for yen C19: from Japanese en , from Chinese yüan circular object, dollar
noun a passionate, ardent, or intense longing or desire
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verb yens , yenning or yenned Word Origin for yen perhaps from Chinese (Cantonese) yăn a craving, addiction
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for yen n.1 Japanese monetary unit, 1875, from Japanese yen , from Chinese yuan "round, round object, circle, dollar."
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n.2 "sharp desire, hunger," 1906, earlier yin "intense craving for opium" (1876), from Chinese (Cantonese) yan "craving," or from a Beijing dialect word for "smoke." Reinforced in English by influence of yearn .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with yen The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
