羊 is a sheep's head seen from the front — the two top strokes are the curved horns, below is the face. In East Asia the sheep symbolized auspiciousness, beauty, and goodness, so it appears in many characters of positive meaning.

Look at the characters built with 羊 and you see that sheep equals "good": 美 (beautiful = 羊 + 大, a big sheep is beautiful), 善 (virtuous), 義 (righteous), 祥 (auspicious), 養 (to nurture), 群 (flock) all grow from 羊.

Korean hanja-sound "yang": 羊毛 (yangmo, wool), 山羊 (sanyang, goat), 羊頭狗肉 (yangdugugyuk, "sheep's head, dog meat" — false advertising), 羊腸 (yangjang, a winding road, "sheep's gut"). The eighth zodiac animal is 羊 (未).

Mandarin: yáng, 2nd tone. 绵羊 (miányáng, woolly sheep), 山羊 (shānyáng, goat), 羊肉 (yángròu, mutton), 羊毛 (yángmáo, wool). The zodiac Sheep is 羊 — 属羊 (shǔ yáng, born in the year of the Sheep).

Japanese: on-reading ヨウ (yō), kun ひつじ (hitsuji). 羊 (hitsuji, sheep), 羊毛 (yōmō, wool), 羊羹 (yōkan, sweet bean jelly), 子羊 (kohitsuji, lamb). The zodiac 未 (hitsuji) is this animal.

Memory aid: two curved horns over a sheep's face — a big sheep (羊 + 大) is beauty itself (美).