Chinese Zodiac Calculator - Find Your Animal Sign & Element

How to use this tool

1. Enter a birth date. Choose a Gregorian birth date from 1901 through 2100.
2. Read the sign. See the animal, element, Yin/Yang, and stem-branch for the Chinese zodiac year.
3. Compare two dates. Optionally enter a second full birth date to see its traditional pairing category.
4. Use a year-only fallback. If the full date is unknown, expand the approximate year option; it does not apply the Lunar New Year cutoff.

What is the Chinese Zodiac?

The Chinese zodiac (生肖, shēngxiào) is a repeating 12-year cycle in which each year is associated with an animal sign. The twelve animals in order are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

Birth dates and the Lunar New Year cutoff

The Chinese zodiac year does not begin on January 1. Lunar New Year falls on a different Gregorian date each year, so a person born in January or early February may belong to the prior animal year. This calculator checks the selected Gregorian date against the first day of the first month in the built-in Chinese calendar. When the birthday is before that cutoff, the result uses the prior Chinese zodiac year and shows the cutoff date in a visible note.

Full-date lookup is supported for 1901 through 2100, the period covered by the Hong Kong Observatory Gregorian-Lunar conversion tables. The calculation runs in your browser using its built-in Chinese calendar data; no birth date is sent to a server. If your browser cannot provide that calendar locally, it reports that the exact lookup is unavailable. The year-only fallback remains available for dates outside this supported range, but it assigns the Gregorian year directly and does not adjust for Lunar New Year.

The Five Elements

Layered on top of the 12-animal cycle is a 10-year cycle of five elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth), each lasting two consecutive years. Together they create a 60-year sexagenary cycle (60 = LCM of 12 and 10).

Yin and Yang

Each year alternates between Yang (陽) and Yin (陰) energy. Yang years are generally associated with outward, active energy; Yin years with inward, receptive energy.

Stem-Branch notation

Traditional Chinese calendars express years using a combination of one Heavenly Stem (天干, tiāngān) and one Earthly Branch (地支, dìzhī). For example, 2024 is 甲辰 (Jiǎ-Chén), the Year of the Wood Dragon.

Animal personality associations

Traditional compatibility groups

In one traditional compatibility framework, the 12 animals are grouped into four triads, six harmony pairs, and six opposing pairs. The optional comparison labels which group two signs share; it does not calculate a numerical score or assess a real relationship.

• Triads: Rat–Dragon–Monkey; Ox–Snake–Rooster; Tiger–Horse–Dog; Rabbit–Goat–Pig.
• Six-harmony pairs: Rat–Ox; Tiger–Pig; Rabbit–Dog; Dragon–Rooster; Snake–Monkey; Horse–Goat.
• Opposing (clash) pairs: Rat–Horse; Ox–Goat; Tiger–Monkey; Rabbit–Rooster; Dragon–Dog; Snake–Pig.

A comparison can also report the same animal sign or no listed pairing. These categories represent cultural tradition and entertainment, not scientific findings or predictions. Different sources may present additional compatibility ideas that this simple year-animal comparison does not cover.

Year lookup: 2025–2036