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 Cantoneseyīn-yáhn, a combination of yīn, meaning "opium," and yáhn, "craving." In English, the Chinese syllables were translated as yen-yen.
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
Noun
Over the last several months, American visitors have flocked to Japan to take advantage of a historically weak yen, lowering the price of hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and bullet train tickets.—Karen K. Ho, ARTnews.com, 3 July 2024 The nation is experiencing a tourism boom due to the weak yen and post-pandemic urge to travel and locals have been complaining that visitors are causing disruption at popular Mt. Fuji viewing sites.—Sarah Hilton, Bloomberg.com, 12 June 2024 Japan’s companies are starting to worry about the consequences of a persistently weak yen.—Nicholas Gordon, Fortune Asia, 16 May 2024 How Japan’s newest yen note came from the Nepali mountains
Banks across Japan began stocking their ATMs on Wednesday with shiny new yen notes sourced from an unlikely location — vibrant yellow flowering paperbush shrubs that grow on craggy Himalayan mountains in Nepal.—Krystal Hur, CNN, 5 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for yen
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.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Japanese en
Noun (2)
obsolete English argot yen-yen craving for opium, from Chin (Guangdong) yīn-yáhn, from yīn opium + yáhn craving
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