Did you know?
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
Noun (2)
I have a strange yen to take the day off from work
Verb
what car lover doesn't yen for a new car at the start of every model year
Recent Examples on the Web
Lin Lin,lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 21 Jan. 2025
In November, the company cut its annual sales forecast for its fiscal year, which ends in March, to 1.28 trillion Japanese yen ($8.2 billion), down from 1.35 trillion.
—Beatrice Nolan, Fortune Asia, 17 Jan. 2025
The book is titled Art of Battle: Koichi Ohata Robot Chronicle and will be released in Japan on January 25 for 4,180 yen (or around $26), and is available to pre-order from Amazon Japan.
—Ollie Barder, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
So, the program offers a salary of about three million Japanese yen (around $19,000) to live and work in the communities for one to three years.
—Harrison Pierce, Travel + Leisure, 9 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for yen 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda delivers a speech at the start of issuance of new yen banknotes at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on July 3, 2024.
—Lin Lin,lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 21 Jan. 2025
In November, the company cut its annual sales forecast for its fiscal year, which ends in March, to 1.28 trillion Japanese yen ($8.2 billion), down from 1.35 trillion.
—Beatrice Nolan, Fortune Asia, 17 Jan. 2025
The book is titled Art of Battle: Koichi Ohata Robot Chronicle and will be released in Japan on January 25 for 4,180 yen (or around $26), and is available to pre-order from Amazon Japan.
—Ollie Barder, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
So, the program offers a salary of about three million Japanese yen (around $19,000) to live and work in the communities for one to three years.
—Harrison Pierce, Travel + Leisure, 9 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for yen
Dictionary Entries Near yen
Cite this Entry
“Yen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yen. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share