(yáng): ocean

(yáng) is a Chinese character meaning “ocean.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #803 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. ocean

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵羊 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounhǎi yángocean4
noundà yáng zhōuOceania6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yáng cōngonion (Allium cepa)
西dà xī yángAtlantic Ocean
dà yángocean
西xī yángthe West (Europe and North America)
yáng yìbrimming with
chū yáng xiàngto make a fool of oneself
yáng zhuāngWestern-style dress
yáng fúWestern-style clothes
yáng liúocean current
yáng xiàngsocial gaffe or blunder
yáng jīsee 洋基隊|洋基队[Yang2 ji1 dui4]
lǎn yāng yānglazily
yáng fángWestern-style house
yáng yù(dialect) potato
yuǎn yángdistant seas
100
Total compounds
55
As first character
28
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 55 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

tiǎn
0.60210 co-occurrences
shì
0.58110 co-occurrences
tài
0.573168,492 co-occurrences
xún
0.56872,216 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.55251,180 co-occurrences
hǎi
0.551225,108 co-occurrences
cōng
0.5464,425 co-occurrences
píng
0.507174,708 co-occurrences
wěi
0.47914 co-occurrences
0.4774,854 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

Běiyáng JūnfáHSK 7+

Beiyang Army

Běiyáng ZhèngfǔHSK 5+

Beiyang government

chóngyángmèiwàiHSK 7+

to overly admire foreign things

phrase
jiāngyángdàdàoHSK 7+

infamous pirate; (by extension) notorious bandit or robber

phrase
rèqíngyángyìHSK 7+

brimming with enthusiasm; ebullient

phrase
wàngyángxīngtànHSK 7+

to lament one's littleness in face of something vast and great; to feel powerless in face of a great task

phrase
yángyángsǎsǎHSK 5+

at great length; voluminous

phrase
yuǎndùchóngyángHSK 6+

to travel across the ocean

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

很多跨国公司都在太平两岸设有分公司,业务往来十分频繁。

Hěn duō kuàguó gōngsī dōu zài Tàipíngyáng liǎng'àn shè yǒu fēngōngsī, yèwù wǎnglái shífēn pínfán.

Many multinational companies have branch offices on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, with very frequent business exchanges.

LtnFeb 2026

...传遭拘罚18亿 扛布者:疑被中国政府“远捕捞”

. . . chuán zāo jū fá 1 8 yì gāng bù zhě : yí bèi zhōng guó zhèng fǔ yuǎn yáng bǔ lāo

... It is rumored that he was fined 1.8 billion Cloth bearers: suspected of being "ocean-going fishing" by the Chinese government

StheadlineFeb 2026

晨光追击│“丰盛”佳态

chén guāng zhuī jī fēng shèng jiā tài yáng yì

Morning light pursuit│"Abundant" is full of beauty

百度新闻Feb 2026

「“一带一路”陕西人」漂过海来团圆

yī dài yī lù 陕 xī rén piāo yáng guò hǎi lái tuán yuán

"Belt and Road" Shaanxi People: Crossing Oceans to Reunite

百度新闻Feb 2026

通讯|荷兰海牙市政厅溢浓浓年味儿

tōng xùn hé lán hǎi yá shì zhèng tīng yáng yì nóng nóng nián wèi ér

News | The Hague City Hall Filled with Festive Atmosphere

百度新闻Feb 2026

邂逅非遗 上海海昌解锁新春文旅新玩法

hǎi yáng 邂 逅 fēi yí shǎng hǎi hǎi chāng xiè suǒ xīn chūn wén lǚ xīn wán fǎ

Ocean Encounter with Intangible Cultural Heritage: Shanghai Haichang Unlocks New Cultural Tourism Experiences for the Spring Festival

Tatoeba

中国与美国隔着哪个大

Zhōngguó yǔ Měiguó gé zhe nǎge dàyáng?

Which ocean separates China and America?

Tatoeba

谁能揭开海的奥秘?

Shéi néng jiēkāi hǎiyáng de àomì?

Who is able to reveal the mysteries of the sea?

Tatoeba

她给了我一个漂亮的娃娃。

Tā gěi le wǒ yī gè piàoliang de yángwáwa.

She gave me a pretty doll.

Tatoeba

他用30天横渡了太平

Tāyòng 30 tiān héngdù le Tàipíng Yáng.

He crossed the Pacific Ocean in thirty days.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 洋 (yáng) mean in Chinese?
洋 (yáng) primarily means "ocean." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #803 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 洋 and 鲜?
洋 (yáng) and 鲜 (xiān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 鱼 (same 羊 component).
How many strokes does 洋 have?
洋 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 洋?
The radical associated with 洋 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 洋?
洋 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 羊 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵羊 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 洋?
Common words with 洋 include: 海洋 (hǎi yáng, "ocean"); 洋葱 (yáng cōng, "onion (Allium cepa)"); 大西洋 (dà xī yáng, "Atlantic Ocean"); 大洋 (dà yáng, "ocean"); 西洋 (xī yáng, "the West (Europe and North America)"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 洋 (yáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yáng: 养 (to raise (animals)), 氧 (oxygen (chemistry)), 样 (manner), 央 (center), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 洋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 洋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.