Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

羊: sheep

JLPT N16 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
  • 䒑(form)
6 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ヨウyou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 羊毛ようもうwool
  • 羊羹ようかんsweet bean jelly
  • 羊頭狗肉ようとうくにくdeceptive advertising
  • 牧羊犬ぼくようけんsheepdog

ひつじhitsuji · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 羊ひつじsheep
  • 羊飼いひつじかいshepherd, shepherdess
  • 子羊こひつじlamb

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

Picture of a ram's head.

Source: Wiktionary, 羊 (rev. 92536807), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Gentle, pure, and good! This radical represents the positive traits traditionally associated with sheep—meekness, beauty, and the grace of a ritual offering.”
More in the 羊 sheep story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

羊 gives its sound to

The family reading is ヨウ (you). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ヨウ

34 kanji share this on'yomiAll 34

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
羊 sheep · 䒑
vs半 half · 丶 + 二 + 十
羊 has 䒑 where 半 has 丶 + 二 + 十.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yáng

Same form: 羊 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
羊 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
羊 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yáng most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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