This is something that has been confusing me since I started learning Japanese. As far as I can tell, the two symbols convey the same meaning – though one is Kanji and the other is a currency symbol – and I have even seen the two used in the exact same position to express the same thing. For example, an old book I have has a price tag on it which says
5,200 円
5200￥
Why bother having a different symbol at all? Is there a context under which one is more appropriate than the other?
10 comments
Well like you said
圓/円 is the Name of the Currency
¥ is the Currency Symbol
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_symbol
Currency Symbols are designed as an internationally recognized shorthand for a currency. It just happens that East Asian Countries also have a “Symbol” that acts like a “Currency Symbol” for their money.
It should be important to note that 圓/円 came first, and have other meanings besides “money” or “a form of currency”
Currency Symbols are much more modern, and are a result of the need for internationally recognized standardization.
I wouldn’t say they are completely interchangeable, but you can think of it as the choice between using “Dollar” or $ when you are writing.
Otherwise, there may be other reasons that I am unaware of.
I think you answered your own question… one is a currency symbol and one is a word. It’s the difference between writing “50 dollars” and “$50”.
There’s obviously more complexity to 円 as a Kanji on its own, but the above is easiest way I can think of to answer the question.
円 is more like a one letter word.
OHH im still learning as well but I think ¥ is just the western interpretation of the kanji. If you think of it “Y” doesn’t really exist in Japanese history so it’s probably just the universal symbol for yen
Just to reiterate what other people have said, ¥ is a symbol that denotes the currency of Japan it only means yen.
円 is the word for the currency (en) but it can also mean other things like “round” for example. The symbol stays the same but the pronunciation is different and it has a different meaning. 丸い and 円い both mean “round” and are both pronounced “marui.”
So in other words 円 isn’t a symbol, it’s a word. Words can mean different things in different context. ¥ however, is just a currency symbol. It’s important to distinguish such things especially in a language like Japanese that relies heavily on context.
There is only **one** symbol. 円（えん） is a word, ￥ is a symbol.
What everyone else is saying, but also I think the ¥ symbol can be used for other countries money? It’s also for the Chinese yuan, for example. But other commenters have made it clear. The yen kanji is a word. Much like dollar. You can use it in a sentence, something costs a lot of yen or not a lot of yen. But we don’t say somethings costs a lot of $s/¥s. The symbol is attached to a number. Think more about the uses of dollar and $ in English usage, and you’ll understand the difference between yen and ¥.
Pound…. Dollar…. Euro…
£…. $…. €….
Really?
it’s a holdover from the age of the typewriter
typing U and then backing up and typing an S over it was the way of writing the $ mark (which is why you sometimes see $ with two bars instead of one, as it went from a U on top fo an S to two bars over an S, to one bar)
typing 円 was not possible, so one typed a Y for Yen, backed up, and typed a = over it, to distinguish ￥ from a regular Y
Just specific to the last question: In practice not really.
Also in the real-world you’ll occasionally just see 5200y and indeed sometimes some older people will rage about this. This was on a printed flyer one time and some dude was just standing in the middle of the street yelling at the sky about this.