yuan
noun
a copper coin of the Republic of China, equal to 100 cents; dollar.
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yuan
1 American
[yoo-ahn, yy ahn]
/ juˈɑn, jüɑn /
noun
-
yuan
plural
-
Also called yuan dollar. a copper coin of the Republic of China, equal to 100 cents; dollar.
-
a paper money, brass or cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of the People's Republic of China, equal to 10 jiao or 100 fen.
Yuan
2
American
[yoo-ahn, yy ahn]
/ juˈɑn, jüɑn /
noun
(sometimes lowercase)
Yüan
3
American
[yoo-ahn, yy ahn]
/ juˈɑn, jüɑn /
Yüan
1
British
/ ˈjuːˈæn /
noun
adjective
Yüan
2
British
/ ˈjuːˈæn, ˈjuːˈɛn /
noun
yuan
3
British
/ ˈjuːˈæn /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of yuan
1915–20; < Chinese yuán literally, round, circular; cf. yen 1
Explanation
The yuan is the Chinese equivalent of an American dollar or a British pound. When you're traveling in China, you'll need yuan to pay for meals, museums, hotels, and souvenirs. In Mandarin, yuán means a "round object" or "round coin," and in the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a round, silver coin. Today in China, money is issued in both coins and banknotes, which are printed in amounts ranging from one to 100 yuan. It takes ten jiao to make one yuan, or 100 fen — so if you pay in cash, your change may come in yuan, jiao, and fen.
Vocabulary lists containing yuan
East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - Introductory
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East Asia - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ticket prices range from 20 to 90 yuan, bringing the number sold to a few thousand at most.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Operating costs rose 61.6% to 341.70 billion yuan, and net finance income fell to 1.45 billion yuan from 7.02 billion yuan a year earlier, which the company attributed mainly to foreign-exchange losses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
Nursery executive principal Zhi Jinglin was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 300,00 yuan.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
The most actively traded January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange drops 0.5% to 671.00 yuan a ton.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
“They said she had hundreds of thousands of yuan in the bank.”
From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang
The executive, Zhao Yuan, said it was tough to compete with China’s long-established bottled-water makers, and that the company had racked up big losses in its initial years of operation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
"People used to compare who had spent more," dance teacher Yuan told AFP at a new retail space in central Shanghai filled with luxury handbags, belts and jewellery items -- all second hand.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
For years, Yuan has avoided public attention, but said she recently decided to break her silence as she feared Xu could get a job at another company and go on to harm others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Yuan, her mother and her father all tested positive for elevated levels of cadmium in their blood in 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Okola shared Tony's excitement over the Alta Yuan find.
From The Golden Skull by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin
Paintings of the Yüan or early Ming period.
From Chinese Painters A Critical Study by Frances Seaver
The first part of the main economic text is translated and annotated by H. F. Schurmann, Economic Structure of the Yüan Dynasty, Cambridge, Mass., 1956. p.
From A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] by Wolfram Eberhard
When Yen Yüan died the disciples wished to bury him in pomp.
From The Sayings Of Confucius by Leonard Arthur Lyall
The fifteenth century in China witnessed a continuance of the style prevalent during the Sung and Yüan periods.
From Chinese Painters A Critical Study by Frances Seaver
At its inception the Yüan dynasty had inherited the last masters of the Sung period, among them two artists who are recognized as of the first rank.
From Chinese Painters A Critical Study by Frances Seaver
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