羊 (yáng) · sheep; goat

Measure Word

一只羊 zhī

Meanings

1 sheep; goat
2 surname Yang

Characters

羊

yáng

sheep; goat

A pictograph of a sheep's face with horns - itself a radical appearing in characters like 美 (beautiful) and 鲜 (fresh).

Examples

HSK 2

羊肉很好吃。

Yángròu hěn hǎochī.

Lamb is delicious.

HSK 3

山上有很多羊。

Shānshang yǒu hěnduō yáng.

There are many sheep on the mountain.

HSK 3

他们在放羊。

Tāmen zài fàng yáng.

They are herding sheep.

Tips

culture

羊 is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. The character 羊 also appears in 美 (beautiful) and 善 (good) - sheep symbolized goodness in ancient China.

usage

Chinese doesn't distinguish sheep from goats - both are 羊. To be specific: 绵羊 (sheep) vs 山羊 (goat).

Components

pictograph

羊 yáng

sheep; goat

Single self-pictograph - a frontal view of a sheep's head: two curving horns at the top (the 丷 strokes), a long face, and a centerline down the muzzle. Self-radical (Kangxi #123). Carries deep cultural weight: 美 (beauty = big sheep), 善 (good = sheep speech), 鲜 (fresh = fish + sheep), 群 (flock) all share this radical because sheep were the prototype of mild, valuable livestock.

Radical

Sheep Kangxi #123

Productive radical with a strong cultural halo of goodness and beauty (羊 sits inside 美, 善, 義/义). Meaning compounds include 群 (flock), 羞 (shame, originally offering a sheep), 羡 (envy, drooling at lamb). The top-position variants ⺶ and ⺷ appear in 着, 差, 养, the same animal, hat-shaped to fit on top.