Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word yen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word yen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say yen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word yen you have here. The definition of the word yen will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofyen, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
1872 February 24, “The Export of Rice”, in The Japan Weekly Mail: A Political, Commercial, and Literary Journal, volume III, number 8, Yokohama: ジャパンメール新聞社 [Japan Meru Shinbunsha], →OCLC, page 95, column 1:
Passing by those clauses of it which demand no notice, we arrive at that which provides that "each proposal (for purchase) must state the price per picul of rice in gold yen." But why in gold yen, a coin as yet so scarce as to be almost beyond the ken of the foreign merchant?
Does any one however believe that Japan's glorious achievements would have been possible, if the Government of that country had merely poured money like water on its standing battalions, unaugmented by reserves, and the magnificent spirit of every man, woman and child in that country had not been behind the Army to support it? Japan's ordinary budget for the Army is only about 37.3 millions yen, or a little under six crores of rupees.
2011, Rei Kimura, chapter 7, in Japanese Orchid, : Bangkok Books, →ISBN, page 38:
Taking the cue from his neighbours, Paul fed three 1000 yen notes into a machine beside the TV screen and the silent screen immediately exploded into a kaleidoscope of colours and instructions in Japanese below at least twenty pictures of sexy girls. […] Paul hesitated staring intently at the screen and the waiting girl while the 3,000 yen he had fed into the machine steadily dwindled at the rate of 50 yen a minute.
2003, Richard Werner, “Preface”, in Princes of the Yen: Japan’s Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy, Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN:
When banks lend, they create money out of nothing, without withdrawing it from other parts of the economy. This way, fiscal policy would not have crowded out private-sector activity yen by yen, as actually happened.
Origin uncertain, but probably from Cantonese癮/瘾(jan5, “craving”) originally in reference to opium addiction, 煙癮/烟瘾(jin1 jan5) or 菸癮/烟瘾(jin1 jan5): 煙/烟(jin1), 菸/烟(jin1, “smoke, specificallyopium”). Compare the later yen (“opium”) and yen-yen.[4]
1934, Lew Levenson, chapter XX, in Butterfly Man, New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Castle Books, , →OCLC, page 208:
She repeated the words: "You for me and me for you," then hummed: "Two for tea and tea for two …" Her voice trailed off … "All I got is a yen for Diana and my sweet little cute little Zigzag."
Like most middle-westerners, I have never had any but the vaguest race prejudices—I always had a secret yen for the lovely Scandinavian blondes who sat on porches in St. Paul but hadn’t emerged enough economically to be part of what was then society.
1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, published 1955 (France), page 342:
And Clocklan with a nurse for sure again. Always with nurses. Always with blonde hair. His maid has black and I guess he thrives on variety. And over there are some elderly ones with diamonds on their chests in lieu of the other things. Sometimes have a yen to get one of them in bed. Old age no object.
If a fellow chooses to tell himself that his yen for the fetching young intern in his office and his concomitant disgruntlement with his aging wife's housekeeping lacunae make perfect Darwinian sense, who am I to argue with him?
K Robinson, A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Whitby (Series C. Original Glossaries, and Glossaries with Fresh Additions; IV), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., 57 & 59, Ludgate Hill, →OCLC, page 227:
"Listen, I'm in Tom Bleutcher's suite at The Brompton House. Been here the whole Almighty morning. Olga wants you to have lunch with us." / "Olga? Who's she?" / "His daughter. You made a big hit with her last time they was in town. Come on down." / "Get the new writer." / "I got no new writer. Anyway she yens for you. Come on down."
1992, Peter Jordan, “Acknowledgements”, in Re-Entry: Making the Transition from Missions to Life at Home, Seattle, Wash.: YWAM Publishing, →ISBN:
C. S. Lewis warned, "The yen to publish is spiritually dangerous." The "yen" in this case is spread around, so perhaps the danger is diminished! This book has been "yenned" into existence by many, and is a two-team effort ….
you; second person singular pronoun, nominative case
References
Paul Black (2008) “Pronominal Accretions in Pama-Nyungan”, in Claire Bowern, Bethwyn Evans, Luisa Miceli, editors, Morphology and Language History (in Koko-Bera), →ISBN