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One says 10 Dollars or 10 Euros, but 10 Yen or 10 Yuan.
Why?

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    I don't know about Japanese but in Chinese there are no plural forms for most nouns so Yuan is both singular and plural, like 'sheep' in English. These currencies aren't alone, though. Officially the plural of Euro is Euro in most languages and was, until recently, in English as well; though the recommendation in English has been changed recently. See en.wiktionary.org/wiki/euro
    – BoldBen
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 11:43
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    @RegDwigHt I have never heard 10 Euro (and it sounds wrong). Also, it always seems to be capitalized. And the plural of franc (currently Swiss, although this also applies to the former French currency) is francs in both English and French; and of course, in English, the plural of the former German currency is marks (Deutschmarks), not mark. Among former European currencies, it is difficult to come up with one whose English plural is the same as its singular (sometimes the English plural is the same as that in the local language, e.g., *lira, lire*—also current Turkish currency)
    – David Handelman
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 14:21
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    @AndrewLeach - In my family we don't say 10 euros, we say 10 euro. (I live in the U.S. currently.) Is that because my spouse is German? What do people say in the UK?
    – aparente001
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 16:36
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    Also note that quid and knicker don't have an s in the plural.
    – Brian Hooper
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 20:22
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    @aparente001 In German units (including currency units) are normally not pluralized (with a few exceptions like the units of time). 1 Euro, 10 Euro, 1 Meter, 10 Meter, 1 Sekunde, 10 Sekunden.. English generally pluralizes unit names.
    – Chieron
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 9:35

6 Answers 6

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It might be useful to bear in mind the distinction between the name of a currency, which may be a proper noun, and the name of its primary unit, which is in principle pluralizable, even when this distinction is not marked.

In general, the plural of an English noun has an appended s. This applies to the most familiar foreign currency units too. However, in the case of unfamiliar currencies—the Bhutanese ngultrum, for example—if we have heard of it at all, we are probably aware of it only as a currency type: the currency used in Bhutan, which we would call the ngultrum, or arguably the Ngultrum. Few of us are engaged in daily transactions involving that currency. So nobody knows whether 100 such units should be called 100 ngultrum or 100 ngultrums. Our limited familiarity with the currency only as a currency type steers us towards the former, while the normal pattern of English grammar draws us to the latter.

Given this uncertainty, we are open to influence. The venturesome foreign traveller who does actually engage in ngultrum transactions is likely to be most influential here. He or she in turn will likely be influenced by the native usage in the (to the native) foreign language of English. I don't know how the Bhutanese language marks the plural form of the ngultrum (unit), but it is unlikely to be with a terminal s. This background will make the uninflected, or otherwise inflected, plural more probable among those who transact in ngultrum with English-speakers, and eventually that form may become the established English orthography.

I suspect that this pattern was followed in the case of the Japanese currency, which was once hardly known among English-speakers. Thus the plural of (the currency unit) yen is yen. It is likely that this set the precedent for the plural of yuan.

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As noted in multiple comments, the premise of your question is faulty. Officially, the plural of Euro is Euro:

In Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage.

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    Good luck making laws about how people use their own language: what are we, French? No cents to be had here.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 1:59
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The official currency of The Peoples Republic of China is the Renminbi. Yuan is used as a synonym for Renminbi internationally and referred to by the abbreviation CNY. In China they use Yuan to describe currency in general somewhat like the British could refer to pounds as Sterling. This is a hold over from when Chinese currency was not Fiat and a Yuan was a silver coin that could be broken down into smaller amounts by a decimal system where they would say for instance .5 Yaun leaving no need changing Yuan to Yuans. I own some modern Chinese silver panda coins that have a face value of 10 Yuan which if i were to sell for spot silver price while in China I would receive Some amount of Renminbis. The Chinese currently refer to yen as Japanese Yuan, The Dollar the American Yuan, the Euro the European Yuan and so on. Hopefully what I said helps. I'm not sure about the yen part of the question sorry.

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  • This may be so but it doesn't address the question.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 9:50
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    I thought the difference between the English and Chinese languages was made apparent in a previous post. I'm new to this so I didn't focus on that in my post. Lesson learned.
    – Mr. Durden
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 11:11
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Since we are borrowing the proper name of the currency, we also borrow the native plural form. Compare krone -> kroner and mark -> mark.

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  • Octopus → octopoides? Campus → campi? Very rare. '... we also borrow the native plural form' is far from being a fixed rule, so more justification is required, Roni.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 15:16
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Because Japanese deviated from the paths of English, Spanish, etc. a very long time ago, and thus evolved in a completely different direction, one that apparently does not include the suffix -s.

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    I don't think it depends on the evolution of Japanese. Whether English applies the s seems independent of what the native language does.
    – Ross Millikan
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 0:02
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This is because they are invariant nouns. Examples of invariant currencies in plural form:

  • Yen (Japan)
  • Sen (fraction of a yen, Japan)
  • Yuan (China)
  • Jiao (fraction of a yuan, China)
  • Fen (fraction of a jiao, China)
  • Baht (Thailand)
  • Satang (fraction of a baht, Thailand)
  • Rand (South Africa)
  • Quid (British slang)

And, here are some irregular plurals of some other currencies:

  • Penny / pence (fraction of a pound, United Kindom only)
  • Paisa / paise (fraction of a rupee in India and Pakistan)
  • Drachma / drachmae or drachmas (Greece, formerly)
  • Krona / kronor (Sweden)
  • Krone / kroner (Norway and Denmark)
  • Markka / Markkaa (Finland, formerly)
  • Lira / lire (Italy, formerly)
  • Real / reais (Brazil)
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    Saying that yen and yuan don't add an s in the plural "because they are invariant nouns" seems to me to be an explanation like the one given by a physician in one of Molière's plays, who says that opium induces sleep becuase it contains a "dormitive principle".
    – herisson
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 5:12
  • @herisson 'Because they are invariant nouns in the original language, and have been imported felicitously (subject to transliteration)' gets closer. But then some plural forms aren't imported.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 15:24

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