コイン
Meanings
1
Refers to a physical piece of metal money. Used in everyday contexts such as vending machines, parking meters, and coin-operated devices.
Please insert a coin into the vending machine.
2
Used for non-currency coin-like objects such as game tokens, laundry tokens, or casino chips. Less common than the primary 'coin' sense.
I bought tokens to use at the arcade.
Usage patterns
- 〈物〉にコインを入れるto insert a coin into (a machine)
I put a coin into the vending machine and bought a juice.
- コインを投げるto toss/flip a coin
Let's flip a coin to decide who goes first.
- コインを両替するto exchange coins (for other denominations or currency)
I had the bank exchange a thousand-yen note for coins.
- コインが戻ってくるfor a coin to be returned (e.g. by a machine)
When I pressed the button, the unused coin came back out.