| 释义 |
yen-yen U.S. slang.|ˈjɛnjɛn|
Also † inyun.
[Prob. ad. Chinese (Cantonese) yīnyǎn craving for opium, f. yīn opium + yǎn craving: cf. yen2 and yen3.]
A craving for opium, the ‘opium-habit’.
1886T. Byrnes Professional Criminals Amer. 385 A fiend suffering with the inyun is a man to be avoided. Ibid. 384, I was a victim to the opium habit, or, as the Chinese have it, inyun fun. 1892H. Campbell Darkness & Daylight xxviii. 569 ‘I've got the yen-yen (opium habit) the worst way’, said one woman, ‘and must have my pipe every night.’ 1904H. Hapgood Autobiogr. of Thief x. 207 Perhaps it was the sight or smell of the hop, but anyway I got the yen-yen and shook as in the ague. 1926J. Black You can't Win xvii. 238 He [sc. the old Chinaman] was shaking with the ‘yen yen’, the hop habit. 1961Amer. Speech XXXVI. 178 If Cantonese yen yen be regarded as the probable source of English yen-yen we may assume that the syllables represent the individual etymons for yen ‘opium’ and yen ‘craving’. |