Enter your birth year (or full date of birth) to discover your Chinese Zodiac animal sign. The Chinese Zodiac Calculator returns your zodiac animal, its element, lucky numbers, lucky colors, and core personality traits — all based on the traditional 12-year lunar cycle.
Your Chinese Zodiac Sign
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Element
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Yin / Yang
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Lucky Numbers
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Lucky Colors
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Personality Traits
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Best Compatible Signs
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The Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao, is a repeating 12-year cycle where each year is represented by an animal sign. The 12 animals in order are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each animal is believed to influence the personality and fortune of people born in its year.
Your sign is primarily determined by your birth year in the Chinese lunar calendar. However, if you were born in January or February, your sign may actually belong to the previous Gregorian year, because the Chinese New Year falls between late January and mid-February. This calculator accounts for approximate lunar new year boundaries.
The five elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Each element pairs with each zodiac animal on a 60-year cycle (12 animals × 5 elements). Your element is determined by the last digit of your birth year: years ending in 0–1 are Metal, 2–3 Water, 4–5 Wood, 6–7 Fire, and 8–9 Earth.
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, meaning it is based on both the moon's phases and the sun's position. As a result, Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year in the Gregorian calendar, typically between January 21 and February 20. The year 2026 begins on February 17.
In Chinese cosmology, each zodiac animal is classified as either Yin (feminine, passive energy) or Yang (masculine, active energy). Odd-positioned animals in the cycle (Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Dog) are Yang, while even-positioned animals (Ox, Rabbit, Snake, Goat, Rooster, Pig) are Yin.
Compatibility is traditionally grouped in triangles of affinity: Rat, Dragon, and Monkey form one group; Ox, Snake, and Rooster another; Tiger, Horse, and Dog a third; and Rabbit, Goat, and Pig the fourth. Signs within the same triangle are considered highly compatible in love and friendship.
Yes. 2025 is the Year of the Snake, which began on January 29, 2025 and ends on February 16, 2026. The following year, 2026, will be the Year of the Horse, starting February 17, 2026.
Yes, this is possible for people born in January or early February. Because the Chinese New Year doesn't fall on January 1st, someone born on January 10, 1990 would still be a Snake (the 1989 animal), while someone born on February 1, 1990 after the new year would be a Horse. Always check the exact Chinese New Year date for the relevant year.