洋服
ようふく · youfuku · JLPT N5 · noun
apparel
👔👗 洋服 = ocean (overseas) + clothes: clothing from across the sea
洋 means ocean and, by extension, the West (as in 洋食, Western food). 服 means clothes. So 洋服 is overseas-style clothing, the opposite of 和服 (wafuku), Japanese-style clothing such as kimono.
洋 — water radical 氵 + sheep 羊
洋 combines the water radical 氵 (meaning) with 羊 'sheep' (phonetic, hinting at the sound yáng). Originally it referred to a vast body of water or ocean. Later it extended to mean 'foreign' or 'overseas,' since foreign things came across the ocean.
服 — 月 (moon/flesh) + 𠬝 (kneeling figure with hand)
Originally depicted a hand subduing a kneeling person beside a boat (later simplified to 月), suggesting submission or service. The meaning extended from 'submit/serve' to 'clothing' (what one wears in service) and 'to take' as in medicine. The phonetic role of 𠬝 helps fix the reading fú.