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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.
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
Jeff Kingston, Time, 4 Oct. 2025
With annual revenues topping 3 trillion yen, Uniqlo is positioning itself to lead its supply chain toward scalable solutions.
—Chizuru Muko, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2025
That movie did almost 41B yen in Japan, while Infinity Castle is at nearly 40B yen, but coming in much higher in dollars.
—Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 21 Sep. 2025
By book value, the BOJ’s ETF holdings are worth roughly 37 trillion yen ($251 billion).
—William Pesek, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yen
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Noun
The inflation hammering households is primarily due to the weak yen that the Abe government orchestrated with negative interest rates and massive monetary easing, causing a surge in energy and food prices that pinches voters’ wallets.
—Jeff Kingston, Time, 4 Oct. 2025
With annual revenues topping 3 trillion yen, Uniqlo is positioning itself to lead its supply chain toward scalable solutions.
—Chizuru Muko, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2025
That movie did almost 41B yen in Japan, while Infinity Castle is at nearly 40B yen, but coming in much higher in dollars.
—Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 21 Sep. 2025
By book value, the BOJ’s ETF holdings are worth roughly 37 trillion yen ($251 billion).
—William Pesek, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yen
Cite this Entry
“Yen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yen. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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