What 💴 means
A paper note of the yen, Japan's currency, with the sign on it.
The yen (currency code JPY, sign ) is what people in Japan pay with. There are no cents: one yen is the smallest coin, so prices are whole numbers like 500 for a coffee or 10,000 for a hotel night. Banknotes come in 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen, issued by the Bank of Japan. A new series arrived in July 2024, with industrialist Shibusawa Eiichi on the 10,000, educator Tsuda Umeko on the 5,000 and bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburō on the 1,000. In Japanese the currency is called en, written 円, and is its symbol in prices.
On many phones the emoji shows one note, on others a small stack, with a on it; colours and details vary. It sits in a set of four banknotes alongside dollar, euro and pound. Like many early emoji, it comes from the sets made for Japanese mobile phones before emoji spread worldwide.
What does it mean when someone sends 💴?
Often money in general: paying, getting paid, spending or saving.
A friend writing "finally 💴" means payday. A seller adding 💴 to a post is saying "prices here". Beside a sigh or a crying face it means money gone or money tight. None of these turns on Japan; the sender picked a banknote picture, and this was the one in reach.
It means yen specifically when Japan already is the topic: a trip budget, a question about exchange rates, or something ordered from Japan. Even then it is colour, not a contract. If you are agreeing an actual payment, put the amount and the currency in words.
Casual chat about money. Fine with friends and in light posts; too playful for invoices, contracts or anything where the currency matters.
Do not take 💴 alone as the currency of a payment; confirm yen, dollars or anything else in words.
Part of collections
What it means when someone sends it to you
5 readingsSpending in yen: budget, exchange, prices on the ground.
Don't confuse it with
4
Related characters
2
Combination ideas
5Worth knowing
- Japanese speakers say en, not yen. The Y spelling is usually traced to older romanizations from early European contact, though even the Bank of Japan lists several theories; it has since spread into many languages.
- The 2,000-yen note exists but is rare; you may spend weeks in Japan without seeing one, except in Okinawa, where it is far more common.
Questions people ask
3Is 💴 the same as the sign?
No. is a text character you type inside a price, like 500. 💴 is a picture of a banknote and reads as "money" in a message; next to a number it is decoration, not currency notation.
Does 💴 mean someone is rich or something is expensive?
It can be. Repeated notes or a note with mean big money or a high price. One note usually just points at money as a topic, with no amount implied.
Can I use 💴 if I don't mean Japanese money?
Yes. Most people do. If the currency matters, though, or the actual words are clearer, because a Japan-minded reader may take 💴 literally.
More like this
15
Collections with 💴
3
How to type or find 💴
- Also called
- yen emoji · Japanese banknote · yen note
- Search it as
- yen · JPY · ¥ · Japanese money · cash · banknote · money · Japan
- Type it as
- :yen:
- Around since
- 2010 · Emoji 0.6
- Shows up on
- Every phone · iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux
:yen:Common shortcode in Slack, GitHub, Discord, Mattermost and other chat apps; a few apps use a different name.💴Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.