西洋
せいよう · seiyou · JLPT N4 · noun
west
🧭 西洋 = west + ocean: the lands across the western ocean
西 (sei) means west and 洋 (you) means ocean. From Japan and China, Europe lay beyond the western seas, so west-ocean came to mean the West. Its opposite is 東洋 (touyou), east-ocean, meaning the East or Orient.
西 — top 覀 (cover) + bottom 儿 (legs); originally a bird in nest
Originally a pictograph of a bird settling into its nest at dusk. Because birds return to roost when the sun sets in the west, the character was borrowed to mean 'west.' The original 'nest' meaning was later written with 棲/栖.
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.