The yuan (/jwæn/ or /jwɛn/, /juːˈɑːn/ or /ˈjuːən/; sign: ¥; Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán; [ɥæ̌n] ) is the base unit of a number of former and present-day Chinese currencies, and usually refers to the primary unit of account of the renminbi, the currency of the People's Republic of China. It is also used as a synonym of that currency, especially in international contexts – the ISO 4217 standard code for renminbi is CNY, an abbreviation of “Chinese yuan”. (A similar case is the use of the terms sterling to designate British currency and pound for the unit of account.) A yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán) is also known colloquially as a kuai (Chinese: 块; pinyin: kuài; literally: "lump"; originally a lump of silver). One yuan is divided into 10 jiao (Chinese: 角; pinyin: jiǎo; literally: "corner") or colloquially mao (Chinese: 毛; pinyin: máo "feather"). One jiao is divided into 10 fen (Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn; literally: "small portion"). The symbol for the yuan (元) is also used in Chinese to refer to the currency units of Japan and Korea, and is used to translate the currency unit dollar as well as some other currencies; for example, the US dollar is called Meiyuan (Chinese: 美元; pinyin: Měiyuán; literally: "American yuan") in Chinese, and the euro is called Ouyuan (Chinese: 欧元; pinyin: Ōuyuán; literally: "European yuan"). When used in English in the context of the modern foreign exchange market, the Chinese yuan (CNY) refers to the renminbi (RMB), which is the official currency used in mainland China. Having been in use for at least 2000 years, the yuan was probably the first currency decimal currency system. It is also considered the first to use metal coins and bank notes.