It may be a dumb question, both mean circle/round thing but 玉 is more of a
jewel/sphere/ball. Could I say "5円丸" instead of "5円玉"? Or should I just stick
with "5円硬貨"
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2018-03-12T17:37:43.257
57225
2018-03-13T01:47:46.710
28114
question
kanji-choice
The difference between 丸 and 玉
When I was a kid, some older people did actually called coins as:

> 「[Number] 円丸{えんまる}」

Now that those people are gone, I no longer encounter that usage anywhere. It
might have been a regional (Nagoya, in my case) and/or old way of calling
coins. You would look quite weird if you used it today.

In informal daily speech, we almost exclusively use:

> 「[number] 円玉{えんだま}」

Only in very formal situations, we use:

> 「[Number] 円硬貨{えんこうか}」

Most people just do not actively use the last one much even though everyone
knows what it means.
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2018-03-13T00:34:05.513
57235
2018-03-13T00:34:05.513
57225
answer
I've never heard people say "x円丸".

It's weird that we never refer coins as "玉", but we always say like "十円玉". You
could say like "一円硬貨", but it's like "coinage"; too rigid word to use.

To mention coins, we use "小銭{こぜに}", or more specifically "x円玉{えんだま}".
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2018-03-13T01:47:46.710
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2018-03-13T01:47:46.710
28118
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answer