Word of the Day

Monday, June 11, 2001

yen

\YEN\ , noun;

A strong desire or inclination; a longing.

intransitive verb:

To have a strong desire or inclination; to long.

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Quotes:

But all that duty must have incubated a yen for rebellion.

-- Michael Tomasky, "The Candidate", New York Times, March 26, 2000

Mojo, a fellow who's started a successful ice-cream business, likes to think of himself as "a post-Marxist with a yen for a Porsche."

-- Michiko Kakutani, "Alienated Young and Their Solipsistic Pleasures", New York Times, May 7, 1988

We come into the world with a yen for sweets (newborns can even distinguish among glucose, fructose, lactose, and sucrose) and a weak aversion to bitterness, and after four months develop a fondness for salt.

-- Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything

Origin:

Yen comes from Chinese (Cantonese) yan, "craving."