Water Pig (癸亥): personality and meaning in the Chinese zodiac
The Water Pig, 癸亥, doubles the Pig's own element and closes the sixty-year cycle. The tradition reads it as intuitive, gentle and deeply kind.
Heavenly stem and earthly branch: 癸亥
Years: 1923, 1983, 2043
Character
癸亥 sets 癸, yin water, the rain, over 亥, the Pig's own yin water — the sixtieth and last pair of the cycle. Doubled water is the tradition's image of deep winter water: still, receptive and full of quiet life.
Those born in a Water Pig year are read as compassionate, imaginative and diplomatic, with a deep understanding of others and a gift for peace-making. They are tolerant and generous. The tradition's shadow for the Water Pig is being too accommodating — letting others decide — and a tendency to retreat into its own world when things get hard.
In love and at work
In love the Water Pig is read as tender, sensitive and devoted, a partner who forgives easily. At work it suits the arts, counselling, care work and anything that rewards empathy. The tradition suggests the Water Pig make one decision entirely its own.
A question to take with you
What would you choose if no one else's wishes were in the room?
Updated October 28, 2026