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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
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
Drawn by mysterious invitation to the historic grounds of the Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto, they are tempted into a game of survival, with the claim that 100 billion yen awaits the winner.
—Mathew Scott, HollywoodReporter, 19 Sep. 2025
Conversions from Japanese yen to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 147 Japanese yen to $1 USD on August 30, 2025.
—Celia Fernandez
raffi Paul, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2025
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Noun
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
Drawn by mysterious invitation to the historic grounds of the Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto, they are tempted into a game of survival, with the claim that 100 billion yen awaits the winner.
—Mathew Scott, HollywoodReporter, 19 Sep. 2025
Conversions from Japanese yen to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 147 Japanese yen to $1 USD on August 30, 2025.
—Celia Fernandez
raffi Paul, CNBC, 18 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 23 Sep. 2025.
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