羊毛
ようもう · youmou · JLPT N2 · noun
wool
🐑 羊 (sheep) + 毛 (hair/fur) = sheep's hair, which is wool
Sounds like 'you mow': you shear the sheep's hair to get wool.
羊 — pictograph of a sheep's head with horns
羊 is a pictograph showing a sheep viewed from the front, with the top strokes representing curved horns above the face. In ancient China sheep symbolized goodness and auspiciousness, so 羊 became a common semantic component in characters like 美 (beautiful) and 善 (good).
毛 — pictograph of hair/fur, 4 strokes
毛 is a pictograph showing a tuft of hair or animal fur, with strands fanning out from a base. The original oracle bone form depicted feathers or fur clearly, and the meaning broadened from 'hair/fur' to include 'wool,' 'down,' and figuratively 'tiny' or 'rough.' It also became a common surname.