Trade, money & letters

yen

The yen is 'round', as in a round coin: Chinese 圓 named the Spanish silver dollar, and the one character became three currencies, Japanese yen (1871), Korean won and Chinese yuan — all three of which English borrowed separately.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Mandarin Chinese to English

From Mandarin Chinese to Korean, English

From Japanese to Russian

400 CEMiddle Chinese

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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