I’m sorry if this isn’t the correct sub, but I’m not sure where to post the question. What is ” Zenni, Zenni, xeni, zeny” ect? How is this pretty much the universal currency of anime?
Hunter x hunter, dragon ball, monster hunter, so many others use Zenni.
My research had one person say it was a pun for the Japanese word money, but I can’t find anything else.
Any help appreciated
4 comments
Are you sure this is a word and not 2 parts of different words struck together?
Zeni (銭) is a Japanese word referring to a round coin with a square hole in the center (or it’s also used to mean money in general).
It’s just 銭
The on reading is “sen” which is 1/100 of a yen
The kun reading is “zeni” which means small coin
“Kozeni” 小銭 is literally “small change”
It appears to be based off of the 錢/銭
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_sen_coin
100 銭 = 1 圓/円 similar to how
100 ぜに = $1 米ドル
Zeni is just one of the possible readings