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yen
1[ yen ]
noun
- an aluminum coin and monetary unit of Japan, equal to 100 sen or 1000 rin. : ¥; : Y
- a former silver coin of Japan.
yen
2[ yen ]
noun
- a desire or craving:
I had a yen for apple pie.
Synonyms: , , ,
verb (used without object)
- to have a craving; yearn.
yen
1/ ÂáÉ›²Ô /
noun
- the standard monetary unit of Japan, (notionally) divided into 100 sen
yen
2/ ÂáÉ›²Ô /
noun
- a passionate, ardent, or intense longing or desire
verb
- intr to yearn
51³Ô¹Ï History and Origins
Origin of yen2
51³Ô¹Ï History and Origins
Origin of yen1
Origin of yen2
Idioms and Phrases
see have a yen for .Example Sentences
Indeed, the main factor in California’s leapfrogging over Japan was the decline in the yen’s value against the dollar, an artifact of the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain low, even negative interest rates.
The euro, Swiss franc and yen have risen more than 8% each against the dollar since Trump’s return to the presidency.
The dollar also slid in value as investors piled into the euro, yen and Swiss franc.
In the first season, Ricken’s nonsensical self-help book, “The You You Are,†somehow gets into the hands of Mark's “Innie†and sparks his yen for dissent.
It’s part of the current yen for movies that erect a flimsy hall of mirrors around a female icon to reflect how pop culture has warped their image.
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More About Yen
What doesÌýyen 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.
Where doesÌýyen come from?
The first records of the word yen in English in reference to the currency come from the 1870s. It comes from the Chinese word ²âü²¹²Ô, meaning “circular object†or something like “dollar.†This word is also the basis of the Chinese unit of currency called the yuan. Yen coins are indeed circle-shaped, but yen banknotes come in varying denominations, just like the dollar.
The slang sense of the word yen was first used in the U.S. The first records of this use come from the early 1900s. It grew out of an earlier use referring to a craving for opium due to addiction, and in fact the word comes from a Chinese term that means “addiction†or “craving.â€
If you have a yen for something, it means you have a craving for it. If you yen for something, you yearn for it. In both cases, the desire is strong, perhaps even passionate.
Did you know ... ?
How isÌýyen used in real life?
When it refers to currency, yen is used in all the same ways that dollar is (except that the plural of yen is yen). The slang sense of yen is not so commonly used.
pro tip: change all your apps' currency to yen and you will feel like a baller
— Liam Ronan (@liampronan)
I have a yen for some deep fried whitebait. How do I make this happen
— oh. (@the_obald)
Was yenning for an iPad, but I don't do proprietary, so I bought a new LG monitor instead.
— RebellionIsGood (@RebellionisGood)
Ìý
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Try usingÌýyen!
Is yen used correctly in this sentence?Ìý
We dropped a lot of yen to quench our yen for authentic sushi.
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.
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