The kanji 洋 primarily conveys the meaning of "ocean", "sea", or "west/foreign". It often implies something from overseas or having a Western influence. It can also refer to something vast, broad, or open like the ocean.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヨウ (yō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, or rarely used in isolation as a native Japanese word.

⚫︎海洋 Translation: Ocean; sea. ⚫︎西洋 Translation: The West; Western countries (e.g., Europe and America). ⚫︎洋風 Translation: Western style; European style.

The kanji 洋 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The semantic component is 水 (氵 or ⺡, water), indicating the connection to water or a body of water. The phonetic component is 羊 (yō, meaning "sheep" or "goat"). The reason for using 羊 as the phonetic component is not entirely clear, but some theories suggest it originally alluded to a place of origin, or a vast plain like the ocean, thus the phonetic component gave a sound and the water radical gave the semantic meaning. Over time, the meaning shifted towards "ocean" and "foreign" due to the association with overseas trade and the vastness of the sea.