yen

English Online Dictionary. What means yen‎? What does yen mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Etymology 1

From Medhurst and Hepburn’s romanizations, under the influence of earlier Portuguese romanizations, of Japanese 圓(えん) (en, “round; a round object”) as ye or yen, now 円(えん) (en), from Chinese 銀圓 / 银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”): 銀 / 银 (yín, “silver”) + 圓 / 圆 (yuán, “circular, round; yuan, yen, dollar”). Cognate with Chinese 元 (yuán, “monetary unit, especially RMB”) and Korean 원 (won, “North or South Korean won”). Doublet of won and yuan.

Noun

yen (plural yen)

1. The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.
2. A coin or note worth one yen.

Synonyms

• JPY

Translations

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, but probably from Cantonese 癮 / 瘾 (jan⁵, “craving”) originally in reference to opium addiction, 煙癮 / 烟瘾 (jin¹ jan⁵) or 菸癮 / 烟瘾 (jin¹ jan⁵): 煙 / 烟 (jin¹), 菸 / 烟 (jin¹, “smoke, specifically opium”). Compare the later yen (“opium”) and yen-yen.

Noun

yen (plural yens)

2. A strong desire, urge, or yearning.

   Synonyms: craving, desire, hankering, jones, longing, urge, yearning

   • 1934, Lew Levenson, chapter XX, in Butterfly Man, New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, [1960?], →OCLC, page 208:

     She repeated the words: "You for me and me for you," then hummed: "Two for tea and tea for two …" Her voice trailed off … "All I got is a yen for Diana and my sweet little cute little Zigzag."

Translations

Verb

yen (third-person singular simple present yens, present participle yenning, simple past and past participle yenned)

1. (transitive) To have a strong desire for.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 煙 / 烟 (yān), 菸 / 烟 (yān), or Cantonese 煙 / 烟 (jin¹), 菸 / 烟 (jin¹, “smoke, specifically opium”). Compare the earlier yen (“strong desire”) and later yen-yen.

Noun

yen (uncountable)

1. (slang) Opium.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:opium

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

• -yne, NYE, Ney, Nye, eny, ney, nye

Bambara

Adverb

yen

1. there

See also

• yan

Breton

Etymology

Compare Welsh iâ.

Adjective

yen

1. cold

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English yen, from Japanese 円 (en, “yen, circle”).

Pronunciation

Noun

yen

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, colloquial) yen; Japanese monetary unit and coin

Synonyms

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 円 (en, “yen, circle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛn/
• Hyphenation: yen
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

yen m (plural yens)

1. yen, Japanese monetary unit and coin

French

Etymology

From Japanese.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /jɛn/
• Homophone: hyène (hyène can have aspirate or mute h, whereas yen is always "aspirate")

Noun

yen m (plural yens)

1. yen (currency)

Further reading

• “yen”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Ido

Etymology 1

From Esperanto jen, from German jener.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛn/

Interjection

yen

1. look here, behold, lo

Conjunction

yen

1. here is, there is

Synonyms

• yen hike
• yen ibe

Preposition

yen

1. here is

Synonyms

• yen ke

Derived terms

• yena
• yene

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Japanese 円.

Noun

yen (plural yen)

1. (money) yen (Japanese currency)

Indonesian

Etymology

From the influence of earlier Portuguese romanizations, of Japanese 圓 (“round; a round object”) as ye or yen, now 円 (en), from Chinese 銀圓 / 银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”): 銀 / 银 (yín, “silver”) + 圓 / 圆 (yuán, “circular, round; yuan, yen, dollar”). Cognate with Chinese 元 (yuán, “monetary unit, especially RMB”) and Korean 원 (won, “North or South Korean won”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛn/, /jen/
• Hyphenation: yèn

Noun

yen

1. yen, the unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.

References

Further reading

• “yen” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Japanese

Romanization

yen

1. Rōmaji transcription of 𛀁ん

Koko-Bera

Pronoun

yen (accusative yintéw, dative yintéw)

1. you; second person singular pronoun, nominative case

References

• Paul Black (2008) “Pronominal Accretions in Pama-Nyungan”, in Claire Bowern, Bethwyn Evans, Luisa Miceli, editors, Morphology and Language History (in Koko-Bera), →ISBN

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

yen m (plural yenen)

1. yen

References

• “yen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Spanish lleno.

Adjective

yen

1. full

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English yen or French yen.

Noun

yen m (plural yeni)

1. yen (currency)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 円 (en).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -en

Noun

yen m (plural yenes)

1. yen

Further reading

• “yen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Turkish

Etymology 1

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish یك (yeñ, “sleeve”), from Proto-Turkic *yeŋ (“sleeve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjen/
• Hyphenation: yen

Noun

yen (definite accusative yeni, plural yenler)

1. sleeve (part of a garment that covers the arm)

   Kısa yenli bir gömlek. ― A shirt with short sleeves.

Etymology 2

From English yen.

Noun

yen (definite accusative yeni, plural yenler)

1. yen (Japanese currency)

Etymology 3

Verb

yen

1. second-person singular imperative of yenmek

References

Further reading

• “yen”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “yen¹”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5288

Volapük

Etymology

From Japanese 円 (en).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jen]

Noun

yen (nominative plural yens)

1. yen

Declension

Zhuang

Etymology

From Mandarin 縣／县 (xiàn).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /jeːn˧˥/
• Tone numbers: yen⁵
• Hyphenation: yen

Noun

yen (1957–1982 spelling yen)

1. county