羊

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, 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: 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

Historical forms of the character 羊
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – picture of a ram's head.

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) 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)}

• “Entry #2600”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

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

羊

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

(grade 3 “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)

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *petunsi. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.[1]

There are various theories regarding the ultimate derivation:

• From the Chinese zodiac 未 (wèi, “the 8th earthly branches, symbol of sheep”), spoken as 日辻 (hitsuji, literally “day crossing”), in reference to the western sunset at that time.[2]

• Compound of 髭 (hige, “beard”) +‎ つ (tsu, “genitive particle”) +‎ 牛 (ushi, “cow, ox”).[2]
  • Samuel Martin reconstructs hitsuji as Proto-Japonic *pitunsi and derives it as a compound of *pi (unknown, perhaps the same pi found in *pinkay (“beard”)) +‎ *tu (possibly the genitive particle つ (tu)) +‎ *-n- (possibly a contraction of the genitive particle の (no)) +‎ *-_(u)si (related to animals, as in 肉 (shishi, “meat”, obsolete), 獣 (shishi, “animal (used for meat)”, obsolete), or possibly 牛 (ushi, “cow, ox”)).[3]

The _ushi changes to _uji as an instance of rendaku (連濁). However rendaku only applies to the first syllable of a word, so Martin reconstructs ushi as being a compound of *u- (“unknown”) +‎ *-si (“related to animals; see above for examples”), and that the *-si suffix can be isolated, with an optional *-n- to nasalize it.[3]

• Sound shift from 人牛 (hito-ushi, literally “person cow”).[2]

• Theories exist for meaning 養獣 (hitasu-shishi, literally “cultivated meat”) and 養牛 (hitashi-ushi, literally “raised cow”).[2]
  • In Old Japanese, 日足す (pitasu, modern spelling 養たす (hitasu)) meant to nurture. This was first attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[4]

As ushi is a cow or an ox and hitsuji is a sheep, the sound shift most likely using hitashi-ushi mentioned above can be proposed:[2]

/hitashiushi/ → /hitaushi/ → /hitsuji/

• (Tokyo) ひつじ [hìtsújí] (Heiban – [0])[5][6][7]
• IPA^(key): [çi̥t͡sɨᵝʑi]

• • Homophone: 未

羊(ひつじ) • (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)

From Middle Chinese 羊 (MC jɨɐŋ).

• IPA^(key): [jo̞ː]

羊(よう) • (yō) 

1. a sheep (animal)

From Middle Chinese 羊 (MC jɨɐŋ). 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.

羊: Hán Nôm readings: dương

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.