円

円 U+5186, 円 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5186 ← 内 CJK Unified Ideographs 冇 →

Translingual

Stroke order (Japan)

Han character

円 (Kangxi radical 13, 冂+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 月卜 (BY) or 月中一 (BLM), composition ⿵冂丄 or ⿵冂亠)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 128, character 35
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1513
• Dae Jaweon: page 289, character 17
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 96, character 18
• Unihan data for U+5186

Chinese

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 円(えん) (en).

Pronunciation

Definitions

円

1. Synonym of 日元 (rìyuán, “Japanese yen”)

Japanese

Glyph origin

Japanese simplification of 圓, via a simplified character similar to 𠮚.

Specifically, starting in the beginning of the Meiji period, the 員 in the middle of the character was abbreviated to 丨 in handwriting. As time went on, the bottom stroke of 囗 gradually rose, until by the time of the adoption of the shinjitai characters, it had reached or even surpassed the box's centre.

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 圓)

1. circle
2. yen

Readings

• Go-on: えん (en, Jōyō)^{←ゑん (wen, historical)}
• Kan-on: えん (en, Jōyō)^{←ゑん (wen, historical)}
• Kun: つぶら (tsubura, 円ら); つぶらか (tsuburaka, 円らか); まと (mato); まどか (madoka, 円か); まどやか (madoyaka, 円やか); まる (maru, 円); まるい (marui, 円い, Jōyō); まるめる (marumeru, 円める); まろ (maro, 円); まろい (maroi, 円い); まろかす (marokasu, 円かす); まろかる (marokaru, 円かる); まろぐ (marogu, 円ぐ); まろむ (maromu, 円む); まろめる (maromeru, 円める); まろやか (maroyaka, 円やか); まろらか (maroraka, 円らか)
• Nanori: つぶら (tsubura); のぶ (nobu); まどか (madoka); みつ (mitsu)

Compounds

• 円(まど)居(い) (madoi)

Etymology 1

 円 on Japanese Wikipedia

 円 (数学) on Japanese Wikipedia

 円 (通貨) on Japanese Wikipedia

/wen/ → /eɴ/

From Middle Chinese 圓 (MC zjwen|hjwen), with the original sense of "circle, roundness".

The yen sense came much later in the Meiji period, from Chinese 圓／圆 (yuán), itself from 銀圓／银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”). Compare Chinese 元 (yuán, “yuan”) and Korean 원 (won, “Korean won”). Doublet of 元 (gen, “yuan (Chinese currency)”), ユアン (yuan, “yuan (Chinese currency)”), and ウォン (won, “won (Korean currency)”).

The yen became the official currency of Japan in 1871, succeeding the 両 (ryō) and the 文 (mon).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) え​ん (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

円(えん) • (en) ^{←ゑん (wen)?}

1. a round or circular object; a circle; roundness
2. (mathematics) circle (set of all points in plane at a given distance and at a given point)

   Synonym: 円周 (enshū)

3. yen

   one yen is equal to 100 銭 (sen)

   Synonym: 円貨 (enka)

   • 1989 November 10 [1988 May 25], Fujiko F. Fujio, “ミニチュア製造カメラ [Miniature-Generating Camera]”, in 征地球論 [A Debate over Conquering Earth] (藤子・Ｆ・不二雄 ＳＦ全短編; 3), 2nd edition, volume 3 (fiction), Tokyo: Chuokoronsha, →ISBN, 第二章, page 322:

     一(いち)億(おく)円(えん)⁉いらん帰(かえ)れ

     Ichioku-en⁉ Iran kaere

     100 million yen!? Get outta here!

     一(いっ)千(せん)万(まん)円(えん)でいい　百(ひゃく)万(まん)円(えん)！十(じゅう)万(まん)円(えん)！一(いち)万(まん)円(えん)！

     Issenman-en de ii Hyakuman-en! Jūman-en! Ichiman-en!

     Okay, 10 million yen then. 1 million! 100,000! 10,000!

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Chinese: 円
• → English: yen
  • → Vietnamese: yên
• → French: yen
• → German: Yen
• → Greek: γιεν (gien)
• → Korean: 엔 (en)
• → Portuguese: iene
• → Russian: иена (ijena)
• → Thai: เยน (yeen)

See also

• ¥

Affix

円(えん) • (en) ^{←ゑん (wen)?}

1. circular; round
2. smooth; harmonious
3. yen: the official currency of Japan

Derived terms

Proper noun

円(えん) • (En) ^{←ゑん (wen)?}

1. a surname
2. a female given name

Etymology 2

⟨maro₂⟩ → /maro/

From Old Japanese.

Noun

円(まろ) • (maro) 

1. (archaic) Alternative spelling of 丸 (“roundness, plumpness”)

Derived terms

Etymology 3

/maro/ → /maru/

Sound shift from maro above.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) まる (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

円(まる) • (maru) 

1. Alternative spelling of 丸 (“circle”)

Derived terms

Prefix

円(まる) • (maru-) 

1. Alternative spelling of 丸: prefix to numbers remaining constant
2. Alternative spelling of 丸: prefix to noun to mean an object is completely in that noun

Proper noun

円(まる) • (Maru) 

1. a unisex given name

Etymology 4

Various nanori readings.

Proper noun

円(のどか) or 円(つぶら) or 円(まどか) or 円(まろか) or 円(みつ) or 円(めぐる) • (Nodoka or Tsubura or Madoka or Maroka or Mitsu or Meguru) 

1. a female given name

Proper noun

円(つぶら) or 円(まどか) or 円(まとめ) • (Tsubura or Madoka or Matome) 

1. a surname

Proper noun

円(まろし) • (Maroshi) 

1. a unisex given name

References

Korean

Hanja

円 (eum 엔 (en))

1. hanja for names

Usage notes

This is the only character whose pronunciation is from modern Japanese, not from Classical Chinese.

References

Vietnamese

Han character

円: Hán Nôm readings: viên

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.