The kanji 洋 primarily means "ocean," "sea," "west," or "foreign." It often refers to things related to the Western world, the ocean, or something that is spacious and expansive, similar to the sea. The character can also imply something that is stylish or modern, reflecting a Western influence.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヨウ (yō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, or the kun-yomi doesn't have a specific meaning. The character is generally used for compound words with the on-yomi.

⚫︎ 洋食 Translation: Western food (food influenced by Western cuisine) ⚫︎ 大西洋 Translation: Atlantic Ocean (literally "Great Pacific Ocean") ⚫︎ 西洋 Translation: The West; Western countries

The kanji 洋 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left part is 氵 (water radical, みず, mizu), indicating a connection to water. The right part is 羊 (ひつじ, hitsuji), which originally meant "sheep". This can be thought of as a phonetic component that also implies something spacious or plentiful. The original meaning referred to the vastness of the ocean.