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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
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 29 July 2025
That will push a ¥7.9 million yen Jeep Rubicon to over ¥9 million, where as a top-of-the-range Toyota Land Cruiser hovers around ¥7.4 million.
—Peter Lyon, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The blockbuster debut echoes the stunning performance of 2020’s Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which became Japan’s all-time top-grossing film — amid the challenges of the pandemic — with a record-breaking total of over $365 million (40 billion yen).
—Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 23 July 2025
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle reportedly made 1.7 billion yen in its first day of release, passing up Mugen Train’s 1.2 billion yen record at the Japanese box office before this.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 19 July 2025
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Noun
Despite his discomfort, the former star yen derivatives trader for UBS and Citigroup has become globally recognized, some might say, as a fall guy for the Libor scandal, which involved myriad actors, including bankers, banks, and even world governments.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 29 July 2025
That will push a ¥7.9 million yen Jeep Rubicon to over ¥9 million, where as a top-of-the-range Toyota Land Cruiser hovers around ¥7.4 million.
—Peter Lyon, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The blockbuster debut echoes the stunning performance of 2020’s Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which became Japan’s all-time top-grossing film — amid the challenges of the pandemic — with a record-breaking total of over $365 million (40 billion yen).
—Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 23 July 2025
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle reportedly made 1.7 billion yen in its first day of release, passing up Mugen Train’s 1.2 billion yen record at the Japanese box office before this.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 19 July 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 Aug. 2025.
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