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Although yen suggests no more than a strong desire these days (as in "a yen for a beach vacation"), at one time someone with a yen was in deep trouble: the first meaning of yen was an intense craving for opium. The word comes from Cantonese yīn-yáhn, a combination of yīn, meaning "opium," and yáhn, "craving." In English, the Chinese syllables were translated as yen-yen.
Synonyms
Examples of yen in a Sentence
Koh Ewe, TIME, 28 May 2024
The spoon is only going out in a limited-run batch of 200 at first and selling for 19,800 yen (that’s about $127).
—Wes Davis, The Verge, 21 May 2024
The country lured investors and drove gains with a campaign to improve shareholder returns, a weak yen and the end of negative rates in Japan.
—Jan-Patrick Barnert, Fortune, 18 May 2024
Per the company, its sales reached 1.7 trillion yen for the year, up 4.4% year over year, and net profit totaled 490.6 billion yen, rising 13.4%.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 7 May 2024
If Japan decides to hold off raising interest rates, that could create another problem: a weak yen.
—Nicholas Gordon, Fortune Asia, 16 May 2024
Slovak news outlets, citing police sources, identified him as a 71-year-old pensioner with a yen for poetry and protests.
—Cassandra Vinograd, New York Times, 16 May 2024
Nintendo estimates net sales of 1.35 trillion yen and net profit of 300 billion yen.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 7 May 2024
The Super Famicom prototype being auctioned today is, as of this writing, sitting at just over one million yen (just shy of $7,000 USD), with more than five days to go.
—Wes Davis, The Verge, 6 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yen.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near yen
Cite this Entry
“Yen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yen. Accessed 2 Jun. 2024.
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