羊

羊 U+7F8A, 羊 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7F8A ← 羉 [U+7F89] CJK Unified Ideographs 羋 → [U+7F8B]

⽺ U+2F7A, ⽺ KANGXI RADICAL SHEEP ← ⽹ [U+2F79] Kangxi Radicals ⽻ → [U+2F7B]

⺶ U+2EB6, ⺶ CJK RADICAL SHEEP ← ⺵ [U+2EB5] CJK Radicals Supplement ⺷ → [U+2EB7]

Stroke order

Stroke order

羊 (Kangxi radical 123, 羊+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 廿手 (TQ), four-corner 8050₁, composition ⿱䒑𰀁)

1. Kangxi radical #123, ⽺.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/羊
• 佯, 𭂎, 咩, 垟, 𫰧, 㟄, 𰑘, 𢏙, 徉, 𪭰, 洋, 𨒫, 𪯷, 样, 烊, 牂, 珜, 祥, 眻, 𥒞, 𮃁, 𬡘, 絴, 𫅧, 蛘, 觧, 詳(详), 𨀘, 𨋽, 𨦡, 𩊑, 䬺, 𩣆, 𫙊, 鮮(鲜), 𪢟
• 劷, 𨛁, 䍩, 𢼝, 𣁵, 𭭋, 翔, 鴹, 𠲘, 善, 𩰱, 𧒃, 着, 𫳅, 𦭵, 𭽗, 𬒌, 𥥵, 𥬴, 𪔙, 𫨇, 庠, 𡱝, 痒, 氧, 𠙌, 𪢪, 譱

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 950, character 38
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28425
• Dae Jaweon: page 1393, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3125, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7F8A

simp. and trad.		羊

Pictogram (象形) – picture of a ram's head. See also the original version of 沈.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-jaŋ (“sheep; yak”). Cognate with Tibetan གཡག (g.yag, “yak”), Lepcha ᰚᰩᰭ (yók, “yak”), Tangut 𗇼 (*gjwã², “goat”), Northern Tujia zo³⁵ (“goat; sheep”).

羊

1. caprid (e.g. sheep, goat, antelope, etc.) (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)
2. (slang, neologism, humorous) Alternative form of 陽／阳 (yáng, “positive result (in a medical test)”)
3. ^† Alternative form of 祥 (xiáng, “auspicious”)
4. ^† Alternative form of 徉 (yáng)
5. a surname: Yang

• (sheep, goat):

Others:

• Wutunhua: yang

• (Chinese zodiac signs) (~年) 鼠 (shǔ), 牛 (niú), 虎 (hǔ), 兔 (tù), 龍／龙 (lóng), 蛇 (shé), 馬／马 (mǎ), 羊 (yáng), 猴 (hóu), 雞／鸡 (jī), 狗 (gǒu), 豬／猪 (zhū) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese zodiac signs)}

• “Entry #2600”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

Orthographic borrowing from translingual ¥. Perhaps influenced by 大洋 (dàyáng).

羊

1. (slang) Japanese yen
2. (slang) Chinese yuan

• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “羊”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 277.

Kanji in this term
羊
ひつじ Grade: 3
kun'yomi

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

1. sheep

• Go-on: よう (yō, Jōyō)、じょう (jō)
• Kan-on: よう (yō, Jōyō)、しょう (shō)
• Kun: ひつじ (hitsuji, 羊, Jōyō)

Kanji in this term
羊
ひつじ Grade: 3
kun'yomi

⟨pi₁tuzi⟩ → */pʲituzi/ → /ɸituzi/ → /çitsudʑi/

From Old Japanese.^[1] Further derivation unknown. Theories include:

• From 日 (hi, “sun”) +‎ 辻 (tsuji, “crossroads”), as the sun begins to set around the hour of the Sheep according to traditional Chinese timekeeping.
• Alteration from 髭 (hige, “facial hair”) +‎ つ (tsu, Old Japanese possessive particle) +‎ 牛 (ushi, “cattle”).
• Alteration from 人 (hito, “person”) +‎ 牛 (ushi, “cattle”), literally “people’s cattle”.
• Alteration from 養す (hitasu, “to raise (cattle)”) +‎ 獣 (shishi, “a beast used for its meat”) or 養し (hitashi, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of 養す) +‎ 牛 (ushi, “cattle”). If true, would parallel the supposed development of やぎ (yagi) from 野牛 (yagyū, “wild cattle”), referring to the relative ease of domestication of sheep.^[2]

• (Tokyo) ひつじ [hìtsújí] (Heiban – [0])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [çi̥t͡sɨʑi]

• • Homophone: 未

羊(ひつじ) or 羊(ヒツジ) • (hitsuji) 

1. a sheep (animal)
   • 1999 March 6, “スリーピィ [Sleepie]”, in Starter Box(スターターボックス), Konami:

     しっぽの長(なが)いひつじ。しっぽを使(つか)い催(さい)眠(みん)術(じゅつ)をかけ、睡(すい)魔(ま)を誘(さそ)う。

     Shippo no nagai hitsuji. Shippo o tsukai saiminjutsu o kake, suima o sasou.

     A sheep that will mesmerize you to sleep with its long tail.

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ヒツジ.

• 未(ひつじ) (hitsuji)

Kanji in this term
羊
よう Grade: 3
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 羊 (MC yang).

• IPA^(key): [jo̞ː]

羊(よう) • (yō) 

1. a sheep (animal)

From Middle Chinese 羊 (MC yang). Recorded as Middle Korean 야ᇰ (yang) (Yale: yang) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource

羊 (eumhun 양 양 (yang yang))

1. hanja form^? of 양 (“sheep”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

羊: Hán Nôm readings: dương

1. chữ Hán form of dương (“goat, sheep”).