Year of the Rabbit: Chinese zodiac meaning, years and the five elements
The Rabbit is the fourth of the twelve animals: gentle, tactful and refined, the one who keeps the peace and notices beauty. Here is what the tradition reads in it, its years, and its five elements.
Years: 1903, 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035
Character
In Chinese lore the Rabbit lives on the Moon, pounding the elixir of life beside the goddess Chang'e, and the tradition gives it a quiet, luminous temperament. People born in a Rabbit year are read as kind, diplomatic and graceful, with an eye for beauty and a talent for making others feel at ease.
The Rabbit belongs to the branch 卯, yin wood, full spring, when gardens are green and soft. Its wood is the flexible kind — the vine, the young leaf — so the tradition reads the Rabbit as adaptable and peace-loving, preferring a gentle path to a confrontation. It values comfort, home and good company. Its shadow, in the same reading, is avoidance: letting a problem grow because naming it would disturb the calm, and a cautious streak that can hold back a well-deserved step forward.
In love
In love the Rabbit is read as tender, attentive and devoted, a partner who makes a home feel like a refuge. It values harmony and courtesy and is quick to sense a mood. What asks for care is the Rabbit's dislike of conflict: unspoken disappointment can pile up behind a pleasant face. The tradition suggests the Rabbit's bonds deepen when it trusts that an honest word, said kindly, will not break what it loves.
At work
At work the tradition gives the Rabbit diplomacy, taste and care for detail — design, the arts, counselling, hospitality, negotiation, any field that rewards a gentle touch and a good eye. It is often the one who keeps a team working together. The caution is about hesitation: waiting for perfect certainty before acting, or letting someone louder take credit for its work.
Harmonies and clashes
The tradition places the Rabbit in a six harmony with the Dog and in the three harmony of wood with the Pig and the Goat. Its clash is with the Rooster, opposite it in the circle: gentleness meeting precision. The Dragon is its harm and the Rat its punishment, which the tradition calls an uncivil one — a friction of manners rather than of substance. These are tendencies to notice, never verdicts about people.
The five elements of this sign
- Wood Rabbit乙卯
The Wood Rabbit (乙卯) doubles the Rabbit's own element: read as the most generous, artistic and peace-loving of the five, flexible and kind to a fault.
Years: 1915, 1975, 2035
- Fire Rabbit丁卯
The Fire Rabbit (丁卯) is read as warm, expressive and sociable: fire gives the Rabbit's gentleness more confidence and a livelier, more passionate side.
Years: 1927, 1987
- Earth Rabbit己卯
The Earth Rabbit (己卯) is read as grounded, sensible and loyal: earth gives the Rabbit stability, a practical mind and a long patience.
Years: 1939, 1999
- Metal Rabbit辛卯
The Metal Rabbit (辛卯) is read as determined and discerning: metal gives the Rabbit firmer edges, ambition and a refined, exacting taste.
Years: 1951, 2011
- Water Rabbit癸卯
The Water Rabbit (癸卯) is read as intuitive, sensitive and imaginative: water deepens the Rabbit's empathy and its gift for reading what is unsaid.
Years: 1903, 1963, 2023
A question to take with you
Which conversation have you been postponing to keep the peace — and what would kindness and honesty together sound like in it?
Updated October 28, 2026