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• yuan
  yuan

  noun

  a copper coin of the Republic of China, equal to 100 cents; dollar.
• Yuan
  Yuan

  noun

  (in the Republic of China) a department of government; council.
• Yüan
  Yüan

  noun

  the Mongol dynasty in China, 1260–1368, founded by Kublai Khan.

yuan

¹ American  

[yoo-ahn, yyahn] / juˈɑn, jüɑn /

noun

• yuan
  plural

1. Also called yuan dollar. a copper coin of the Republic of China, equal to 100 cents; dollar.

2. a paper money, brass or cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of the People's Republic of China, equal to 10 jiao or 100 fen.

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Yuan ² American  

[yoo-ahn, yyahn] / juˈɑn, jüɑn /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. (in the Republic of China) a department of government; council.

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Yüan ³ American  

[yoo-ahn, yyahn] / juˈɑn, jüɑn /

noun

1. the Mongol dynasty in China, 1260–1368, founded by Kublai Khan.

2. Yuan.

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Yüan ¹ British  

/ ˈjuːˈæn /

noun

1. the imperial dynasty of China from 1279 to 1368

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Chinese porcelain produced during the Yüan dynasty, characterized by the appearance of under-glaze blue-and-white ware

Yüan ² British  

/ ˈjuːˈæn, ˈjuːˈɛn /

noun

1. a river in SE central China, rising in central Guizhou province and flowing northeast to Lake Tungting. Length: about 800 km (500 miles)

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yuan ³ British  

/ ˈjuːˈæn /

noun

1. Also called: renminbi, renminbi yuan. the standard monetary unit of China, divided into 10 jiao and 100 fen

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• yuan
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of yuan

1915–20; < Chinese yuán literally, round, circular; cf. yen ¹

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

yuan Yuan Yüan

In offshore trading, the dollar was last up 0.3% at 6.6639 yuan after touching 6.6666 yuan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

The company said revenue surged to 269.02 billion yuan, equivalent to $40.39 billion, for the January-September period, in line with its guidance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

References were made to "the person on the 100 yuan note" and "the teacher", a title Mao once used for himself.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

In the publication’s sample, Doubao was frequently more expensive, sometimes by as much as 80 yuan, or roughly $11.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

Reunification, that Chinese ideal, she could not eat an orange without reciting to herself, as she did at New Year’s, quan jia tuan yuan — the whole family together.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Of all Asian currencies, New Taiwan Dollar appears the most correlated and exposed to the factor of AI stock returns, followed by the Thai Baht, the Chinese Yuan and the South Korean Won, BofA estimates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

The executive, Zhao Yuan, said it was tough to compete with China’s long-established bottled-water makers, and that the company had racked up big losses in its initial years of operation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

"People used to compare who had spent more," dance teacher Yuan told AFP at a new retail space in central Shanghai filled with luxury handbags, belts and jewellery items -- all second hand.

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026

“Once a judge approves his petition, no company can find the criminal record based on background search; now they also need to do an internet search,” Yuan told The Times on Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

The third emperor of the Ming dynasty, known Yuan Lo Ta Tien. as Yung Lo, A.D. 1403-1425, issued a commission for the production of a work on a scale which was colossal even for China.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various

He also continued the Sung tradition under the Yüan dynasty to which, as a matter of fact, he belonged only during the second part of his life.

From Chinese Painters A Critical Study by Frances Seaver

When Yen Yüan died the Master gave way to grief.

From The Sayings Of Confucius by Leonard Arthur Lyall

The influence of the Yüan period begins to make itself felt.

From Chinese Painters A Critical Study by Frances Seaver

The first part of the main economic text is translated and annotated by H. F. Schurmann, Economic Structure of the Yüan Dynasty, Cambridge, Mass., 1956. p.

From A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] by Wolfram Eberhard

Yen Yüan heaved a sigh, and said, As I look up it grows higher, deeper as I dig!

From The Sayings Of Confucius by Leonard Arthur Lyall

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