Chinese zodiac: the twelve animals, the five elements and your sign by birth date

Twelve animals, five elements, a cycle of sixty years: find your Chinese sign by birth date below, and read what the tradition sees in each animal and in each of its five elements.

Your Chinese zodiac sign

Worked out in your browser: the date is not sent anywhere or stored.

The Chinese zodiac gives every year an animal — the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog and the Pig, always in that order — and every animal one of five elements in turn: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Twelve animals and five elements meet only once in sixty years, so a Fire Goat or a Water Tiger is a particular year that returns once or twice in a lifetime.

Enter your birth date in the calculator above and the calculator finds your animal, its element and whether the year is yin or yang, counting from the lunar new year rather than from 1 January. Then read your animal's page, and the page of your element-year. This is a tradition read for reflection and entertainment, not prediction: nothing here decides what happens to you.

How your Chinese sign is counted

Your animal is the animal of the Chinese year you were born in, and that year begins on the lunar new year: the second new moon after the winter solstice, between 21 January and 20 February. A birthday in January or early February may therefore belong to the year before — someone born on 30 January 2020 is a Rat, but someone born on 20 January 2020 is still a Pig. The calculator above takes the exact date for every year from 1900 to 2031.

Your element comes from the last digit of the year: 0 and 1 are metal, 2 and 3 water, 4 and 5 wood, 6 and 7 fire, 8 and 9 earth. Even years are yang and odd years yin. Each year also has a two-character name, a heavenly stem and an earthly branch — 丁未 for the Fire Goat year 2027 — which is how calendars in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan write it.

The five elements and the sixty-year cycle

The five elements are not substances but phases of change. Wood grows, fire rises, earth holds, metal gathers and water rests, and each feeds the next: wood feeds fire, fire makes earth, earth bears metal, metal carries water, water nourishes wood. Each also restrains one other, so that no phase runs away with the whole. The tradition reads an element as the colour of a year's animal: the same Horse is gentler in a wood year and more fiery in a fire year.

The ten heavenly stems carry the elements, two each, one yang and one yin, and the twelve earthly branches carry the animals. Paired in order, stem with branch, they make sixty combinations before the first comes round again: 甲子, the Wood Rat, opens the cycle, and 癸亥, the Water Pig, closes it. That is why your element-year has a page of its own.

Harmonies, clashes and Tai Sui

The tradition reads the twelve animals as a circle. Animals opposite each other clash (沖) — the Rat and the Horse, the Ox and the Goat — which the tradition reads as movement and change rather than enmity. Six pairs that mirror each other across the circle form a six harmony (六合) — the Rat and the Ox, the Horse and the Goat — and animals four apart form the three harmonies (三合), the most supportive of all. There are also harms (害) and punishments (刑), frictions of misunderstanding. None of these decides whether two people belong together; they describe the weather two temperaments bring into a room.

Each year has a ruling branch, called Tai Sui (太歲). A year of your own animal, or one whose branch stands in clash, harm, punishment or break with it, is what the tradition calls offending Tai Sui (犯太歲), and in Taiwan and Hong Kong many people settle it at a temple at the new year (安太歲). We name these customs as what they are — traditions people keep — and never as a forecast.

Beyond the year animal: the four pillars

The year animal is one part of a Chinese chart, as the Sun sign is one part of a Western one. The full system, the Four Pillars — 八字 in Chinese, 四柱推命 in Japanese, 사주 in Korean — reads four pairs of stem and branch: those of your year, month, day and hour of birth. It counts the year from Lichun, the beginning of spring around 4 February, rather than from the lunar new year, and reads your day's stem, the day master, as the centre of the chart.

In the Vanteia app the four pillars are computed from your birth date, time and place, the ten gods and the balance of the five elements laid out, and the year ahead read against your chart, for your own questions — as a tradition, for reflection, in your language.

The twelve animals

Rat
The Rat is the first of the twelve animals: quick, resourceful and sociable, the one who notices the opening before anyone else.
Ox
The Ox is the second of the twelve animals: patient, dependable and strong, the one who carries a task to its end.
Tiger
The Tiger is the third of the twelve animals: brave, magnetic and generous, the one who starts what others hesitate over.
Rabbit
The Rabbit is the fourth of the twelve animals: gentle, tactful and refined, the one who keeps the peace and notices beauty.
Dragon
The Dragon is the fifth of the twelve animals and the only mythical one: confident, visionary and energetic, the one who aims high.
Snake
The Snake is the sixth of the twelve animals: wise, intuitive and elegant, the one who thinks long before it moves.
Horse
The Horse is the seventh of the twelve animals: free-spirited, warm and energetic, the one who is happiest in motion.
Goat
The Goat — also called the Sheep or the Ram — is the eighth of the twelve animals: gentle, artistic and kind, the one who makes a home beautiful.
Monkey
The Monkey is the ninth of the twelve animals: clever, inventive and playful, the one who solves the puzzle first.
Rooster
The Rooster is the tenth of the twelve animals: observant, precise and honest, the one who announces the day.
Dog
The Dog is the eleventh of the twelve animals: loyal, fair and protective, the one who keeps its promises.
Pig
The Pig — the Boar in some translations — is the last of the twelve animals: generous, sincere and easy-going, the one who enjoys life and shares it.

Read your four pillars in the appYour day master, the ten gods, the five elements and the year ahead, from your birth date, time and place.

The Chinese years from 1924 to 2031
Year	Sign	Stem and branch	Lunar new year
1924	Wood · Rat	甲子	February 5
1925	Wood · Ox	乙丑	January 24
1926	Fire · Tiger	丙寅	February 13
1927	Fire · Rabbit	丁卯	February 2
1928	Earth · Dragon	戊辰	January 23
1929	Earth · Snake	己巳	February 10
1930	Metal · Horse	庚午	January 30
1931	Metal · Goat	辛未	February 17
1932	Water · Monkey	壬申	February 6
1933	Water · Rooster	癸酉	January 26
1934	Wood · Dog	甲戌	February 14
1935	Wood · Pig	乙亥	February 4
1936	Fire · Rat	丙子	January 24
1937	Fire · Ox	丁丑	February 11
1938	Earth · Tiger	戊寅	January 31
1939	Earth · Rabbit	己卯	February 19
1940	Metal · Dragon	庚辰	February 8
1941	Metal · Snake	辛巳	January 27
1942	Water · Horse	壬午	February 15
1943	Water · Goat	癸未	February 5
1944	Wood · Monkey	甲申	January 25
1945	Wood · Rooster	乙酉	February 13
1946	Fire · Dog	丙戌	February 2
1947	Fire · Pig	丁亥	January 22
1948	Earth · Rat	戊子	February 10
1949	Earth · Ox	己丑	January 29
1950	Metal · Tiger	庚寅	February 17
1951	Metal · Rabbit	辛卯	February 6
1952	Water · Dragon	壬辰	January 27
1953	Water · Snake	癸巳	February 14
1954	Wood · Horse	甲午	February 3
1955	Wood · Goat	乙未	January 24
1956	Fire · Monkey	丙申	February 12
1957	Fire · Rooster	丁酉	January 31
1958	Earth · Dog	戊戌	February 18
1959	Earth · Pig	己亥	February 8
1960	Metal · Rat	庚子	January 28
1961	Metal · Ox	辛丑	February 15
1962	Water · Tiger	壬寅	February 5
1963	Water · Rabbit	癸卯	January 25
1964	Wood · Dragon	甲辰	February 13
1965	Wood · Snake	乙巳	February 2
1966	Fire · Horse	丙午	January 21
1967	Fire · Goat	丁未	February 9
1968	Earth · Monkey	戊申	January 30
1969	Earth · Rooster	己酉	February 17
1970	Metal · Dog	庚戌	February 6
1971	Metal · Pig	辛亥	January 27
1972	Water · Rat	壬子	February 15
1973	Water · Ox	癸丑	February 3
1974	Wood · Tiger	甲寅	January 23
1975	Wood · Rabbit	乙卯	February 11
1976	Fire · Dragon	丙辰	January 31
1977	Fire · Snake	丁巳	February 18
1978	Earth · Horse	戊午	February 7
1979	Earth · Goat	己未	January 28
1980	Metal · Monkey	庚申	February 16
1981	Metal · Rooster	辛酉	February 5
1982	Water · Dog	壬戌	January 25
1983	Water · Pig	癸亥	February 13
1984	Wood · Rat	甲子	February 2
1985	Wood · Ox	乙丑	February 20
1986	Fire · Tiger	丙寅	February 9
1987	Fire · Rabbit	丁卯	January 29
1988	Earth · Dragon	戊辰	February 17
1989	Earth · Snake	己巳	February 6
1990	Metal · Horse	庚午	January 27
1991	Metal · Goat	辛未	February 15
1992	Water · Monkey	壬申	February 4
1993	Water · Rooster	癸酉	January 23
1994	Wood · Dog	甲戌	February 10
1995	Wood · Pig	乙亥	January 31
1996	Fire · Rat	丙子	February 19
1997	Fire · Ox	丁丑	February 7
1998	Earth · Tiger	戊寅	January 28
1999	Earth · Rabbit	己卯	February 16
2000	Metal · Dragon	庚辰	February 5
2001	Metal · Snake	辛巳	January 24
2002	Water · Horse	壬午	February 12
2003	Water · Goat	癸未	February 1
2004	Wood · Monkey	甲申	January 22
2005	Wood · Rooster	乙酉	February 9
2006	Fire · Dog	丙戌	January 29
2007	Fire · Pig	丁亥	February 18
2008	Earth · Rat	戊子	February 7
2009	Earth · Ox	己丑	January 26
2010	Metal · Tiger	庚寅	February 14
2011	Metal · Rabbit	辛卯	February 3
2012	Water · Dragon	壬辰	January 23
2013	Water · Snake	癸巳	February 10
2014	Wood · Horse	甲午	January 31
2015	Wood · Goat	乙未	February 19
2016	Fire · Monkey	丙申	February 8
2017	Fire · Rooster	丁酉	January 28
2018	Earth · Dog	戊戌	February 16
2019	Earth · Pig	己亥	February 5
2020	Metal · Rat	庚子	January 25
2021	Metal · Ox	辛丑	February 12
2022	Water · Tiger	壬寅	February 1
2023	Water · Rabbit	癸卯	January 22
2024	Wood · Dragon	甲辰	February 10
2025	Wood · Snake	乙巳	January 29
2026	Fire · Horse	丙午	February 17
2027	Fire · Goat	丁未	February 6
2028	Earth · Monkey	戊申	January 26
2029	Earth · Rooster	己酉	February 13
2030	Metal · Dog	庚戌	February 3
2031	Metal · Pig	辛亥	January 23

Updated October 28, 2026