The kanji 様 primarily conveys the meaning of "manner," "way," "appearance," "state," or "Mr./Ms./Mrs." (as a respectful suffix). It often indicates a particular quality, characteristic, or mode of something, or it expresses respect. It can also refer to a model or pattern.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヨウ (yō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): さま (sama)

⚫︎ お客様 Translation: Customer; guest (honorable customer) ⚫︎ 色々（いろいろ）な様式（ようしき） Translation: Various styles ⚫︎ この様な場合 Translation: In this kind of situation

The kanji 様 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left part is the semantic component, which is "木" (ki, meaning "tree" or "wood") and the right side is the phonetic component, which is "羊" (yō, meaning "sheep"). Originally, the "羊" (sheep) was used to represent the appearance of the tree. Later, it took on the meaning of "appearance," "manner," or "state,". The "木" was eventually removed. However, there are various theories about its origin and development, and this is a general explanation.