未 | wèi

In Mandarin Chinese, 未 (Pinyin: wèi 🔊) is an extremely common word meaning “not” or “have not”. 未 is also the eighth of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Goat (羊) of the Chinese zodiac; the sixth month; the hour of the Goat (1 pm to 3 pm, “the time when Goats eat grass and urinate frequently”); and the direction 210° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土.

Note that the character 羊 refers to any actual caprid animal while 未 refers to the zodiac animal.

More photos related to goats, sheep, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

羊 | yáng

In Mandarin Chinese, 羊 (Pinyin: yáng 🔊) is a noun that is usually translated as “sheep” but is a general name for a caprid animal such as sheep, goat or antelope. To be more specific, Chinese uses compounds, for example:

• 公 + 羊 = 公羊 (gōngyáng 🔊): ram
• 母 + 羊 = 母羊 (mǔyáng 🔊): ewe
• 山 + 羊 = 山羊 (shānyáng 🔊): goat

A compound of 羊 and 肉 “meat”, 羊肉 (yángròu 🔊), means “mutton”.

The Goat is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 未.

Just as it is the case with 牛, the character 羊 evolved from the pictogram of the animal’s head with horns.

More photos related to goats, sheep, lamb, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.