yen
/jɛn/noun, verb
yen is spelled Y-E-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Yen, the name). As a noun, yen means “The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of yen is yens.
How many letters and syllables are in yen?
| Letters | 3: Y-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.4 times per million words; the 10,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is yen?
Yen appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Yen, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce yen?
- /jɛn/
Yen has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-yen.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with yen?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as yen.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: nye, ney.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of yen
- yens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- yenning participle, present
- yenned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does yen mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.
- 2
A coin or note worth one yen.
- 3
A strong desire, urge, or yearning.
humankind's yen for knowledge
- 4
slangOpium.
verb
- 1
To have a strong desire for.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Yen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does yen come from?
From Medhurst and Hepburn’s romanizations, under the influence of earlier Portuguese romanizations, of Japanese 圓(えん) (en, “round; a round object”) as ye or yen, now 円(えん) (en), from Chinese 銀圓 /银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”): 銀 /银 (yín, “silver”) + 圓 /圆 (yuán, “circular, round; yuan, yen, dollar”). Cognate with Chinese 元 (yuán, “monetary unit, especially RMB”) and Korean 원 (won, “North or South Korean won”). Doublet of won and yuan.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).