Also called yuan dollar. a copper coin of the Republic of China, equal to 100 cents; dollar.
a paper money, brass or cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of the People's Republic of China, equal to 10 jiao or 100 fen.
1915–20; < Chinese yuán literally, round, circular; cf. yen 1
The yuan is the Chinese equivalent of an American dollar or a British pound. When you're traveling in China, you'll need yuan to pay for meals, museums, hotels, and souvenirs. In Mandarin, yuán means a "round object" or "round coin," and in the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a round, silver coin. Today in China, money is issued in both coins and banknotes, which are printed in amounts ranging from one to 100 yuan. It takes ten jiao to make one yuan, or 100 fen — so if you pay in cash, your change may come in yuan, jiao, and fen.
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Moody’s has assigned an A1 rating to the proposed U.S. dollar and yuan medium-term notes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Ng noted that if Beijing "truly wants to accelerate" the internationalisation of China's yuan currency, "it will need to accept freer cross-border capital movement".
From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026
Analysts had expected a net loss of 8.51 billion yuan on revenue of 90.76 billion yuan, according to a FactSet consensus estimate.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026
The company aims to invest over 100 billion yuan in intelligent technology research and development over the next three years.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Ethnic Korean pastors gave him cash, as much as fifteen dollars’ worth of yuan.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
