# yen

Pronunciation: say "YEN" /jɛn/

## Noun

1. The basic unit of Japanese currency, marked by the symbol ¥ and once divided into 100 sen; also, a coin or note worth one yen.
   - Simple: The money used in Japan, or a coin worth one unit of that money.
   - _Tourists exchange their currency for yen before traveling through Japan._
   - _The yen strengthened sharply after the central bank's announcement._
2. A strong desire, urge, or longing for something.
   - Simple: A strong wish to do or have something.
   - _A sudden yen for adventure made her book the flight._
   - _He could never quite shake his yen for the open sea._

## Verb

3. To feel a strong desire for something.
   - Simple: To want something very much.
   - _Many city dwellers yen for the slower rhythms of country living._
   - _She yenned for recognition long after she had earned it._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Opium, the narcotic drug obtained from the opium poppy.

## Origin

**Meaning 1** — The name comes from Medhurst and Hepburn's romanizations (influenced by earlier Portuguese ones) of Japanese 圓/円 (en, "round; a round object") as ye or yen. This in turn derived from Chinese 銀圓 (yínyuán, "round silver object"), from 銀 (yín, "silver") plus 圓 (yuán, "round"). It is a doublet of won and yuan.
**Meanings 2–3** — The origin is uncertain, but it probably comes from Cantonese 癮 (jan⁵, "craving"), originally referring to opium addiction, as in 煙癮 (jin¹ jan⁵). It may be compared with the later yen meaning "opium" and yen-yen.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/yen (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).