The yen symbol (¥)
The yen symbol ¥ is a Y wearing two stripes — the mark of Japan’s currency, one of the most traded on earth. This page copies the japanese yen symbol in its forms, explains why it sometimes appears with one stripe instead of two, and shows how yen prices are actually written — whole numbers only, because the yen has no coins smaller than itself.
Copy the yen signs
Yen amounts ready to copy
Why yen prices have no decimals
Most currencies split into a hundred small units; the yen does not — not anymore. Its old subunits, the sen and rin, were withdrawn at the end of 1953, and prices in Japan are simply whole yen: ¥480 for a coffee, ¥12,800 for a rail pass. That is why the japan yen currency symbol never appears with “.00” after it, and why a sum like ¥1,000,000 is ordinary rather than enormous. In Japanese text the kanji 円 (read en, “round” — a nod to the shape of the coins) follows the number instead: 1,000円.
Yen or yuan? One glyph, two currencies
| Question | Yen (this page) | Yuan |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | Japanese yen — ISO code JPY | Chinese yuan (renminbi) — ISO code CNY |
| Local character | 円 (en) | 元 / 圆 (yuán) |
| Small units | None in use since 1953 — whole amounts only | Splits into 10 jiao / 100 fen — decimals appear |
| The glyph | ¥ (U+00A5), drawn with two strokes in Japanese fonts | The same ¥ codepoint, often drawn with one stroke in Chinese fonts |
The one-stroke versus two-stroke difference is the famous trap: it is the font that changes, not the character. The same ¥ pasted into a Chinese font may render with a single bar, and into a Japanese font with two — which is why prices should always travel with their ISO code (JPY or CNY) whenever money actually matters.
How to type it
| Platform | Method |
|---|---|
| Mac | Option + Y |
| Windows | Alt + 0165; Word: 00A5 then Alt + X |
| HTML | HTML entity “yen” (an ampersand, the word yen, then a semicolon) or entity code 165 |
| Japanese keyboards | A dedicated ¥ key sits where other layouts put the backslash |
Explore more
The whole currency family gathers on the currency symbols hub — codes and signs together — and the rupee’s story is on the rupee symbol page. The same sign across the sea — China’s yuan — has its own page: the yuan symbol.
Frequently asked questions
Why does ¥ sometimes have one line instead of two?
Fonts, not characters: the single codepoint U+00A5 is drawn with two strokes in Japanese typefaces and often one in Chinese ones (where it serves the yuan). The character you copied is identical either way.
What is the yen’s ISO code?
JPY (numeric 392). Use it beside ¥ in anything financial — the glyph alone cannot tell yen from yuan.
Does the yen have cents?
Not in practice: the sen (1/100) and rin were withdrawn at the end of 1953. Prices are whole yen, so ¥99.99 is not a price that exists in Japan.
What does 円 mean?
The kanji for the yen, read “en” — it means “round”, describing the coin. Prices in Japanese commonly write the amount followed by 円 instead of ¥.
Is ￥ different from ¥?
￥ (U+FFE5) is the fullwidth form used inside East Asian typography so it takes the same width as a kanji; in plain text and prices, ¥ is the standard choice.
