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⺷

yáng
radical variant

Meanings

  1. 1 sheep top variant radical (of 羊)
  2. 2 alternate top form of the sheep radical, Kangxi #123

Tips

usage
⺷ is the second encoded sheep-top variant, alongside ⺶. The visual difference: ⺷ keeps a short central vertical between the curving horns, while ⺶ drops it. Semantically identical - sheep, beauty, righteousness, auspiciousness - but most everyday text simply renders 羊 directly when it sits on top.
history
Exact origin uncertain as a separate codepoint - ⺶ and ⺷ are calligraphic siblings, both flattenings of the horned-sheep pictograph 羊 at the top of stacked compounds. Different fonts and historical scripts choose between them; modern Unicode encodes both for completeness.
usage
Rarely encountered as a distinct glyph in modern text. Recognize the sheep-on-top family in 美 (beautiful), 善 (good/kind), 着 (attached), 群 (group/herd) - fonts pick whichever variant they prefer.

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.

Forms
羊 yáng
Default 14 characters
⺶ yáng
Top 0 characters
⺷ yáng
Top 0 characters