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
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
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.15% to 143.80 against the U.S. dollar following the release, while the benchmark Nikkei 225 rose modestly.—Anniek Bao, CNBC, 22 May 2025 Japan's second-biggest automaker expects operating income to total 500 billion yen ($3.38 billion) in the year to March 31, 2026, versus 1.21 trillion yen in the year that just ended.—Daniel Leussink, USA Today, 15 May 2025 The company registered a net loss of 676 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter after clocking a 101.3 billion yen profit in the same period a year earlier.—Kevin Ryan, Quartz, 13 May 2025 That was roughly in line with the 4.75 trillion yen average of 25 analysts surveyed by LSEG.—Reuters, CNN Money, 8 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for yen
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
Share