How to use
- Birth year: type the year you were born to see your animal, element and stem-branch name, plus the other years that share your sign. Fine if your birthday is from March onwards.
- Birth date: use this if you were born in January or February. The calculator compares your birthday with Chinese New Year that year. If you were born before it, you get the previous year’s sign, and the result shows the exact dates your zodiac year started and ended.
Dates are shown the UK way (day, month, year).
How it works
The Chinese calendar counts years in a 60-year cycle that pairs 10 heavenly stems with 12 earthly branches. Each branch is one of the 12 animals, always in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
- Animal: the remainder of (year − 4) ÷ 12. 0 is the Rat, 6 the Horse, 7 the Goat, 11 the Pig.
- Stem: the remainder of (year − 4) ÷ 10. 0 is Jia, 2 is Bing, 3 is Ding, 9 is Gui.
- Element: Jia and Yi are Wood, Bing and Ding Fire, Wu and Ji Earth, Geng and Xin Metal, Ren and Gui Water. The first of each pair is yang, the second yin, so each element lasts two years in a row.
For 2027: (2027 − 4) ÷ 12 leaves 7, the Goat, and ÷ 10 leaves 3, Ding, which is yin Fire. So 2027 is the Year of the Fire Goat, Ding-wei (丁未).
Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (occasionally the third), so it moves between 21 January and 20 February and has no simple formula. The calculator uses the Hong Kong Observatory’s published dates for 1901 to 2100.
Examples
| Born on | Sign | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 14/02/1985 | Wood Rat (甲子) | Chinese New Year 1985 was 20 February |
| 03/02/1992 | Metal Goat (辛未) | Chinese New Year 1992 was 4 February |
| 05/02/2000 | Metal Dragon (庚辰) | Born on Chinese New Year itself |
| 17/02/2026 | Fire Horse (丙午) | Born on Chinese New Year itself |
| 05/02/2027 | Fire Horse (丙午) | One day before the Year of the Goat begins |
The 12 signs and their recent years
| Sign | Recent years |
|---|---|
| Rat | 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 |
| Ox | 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 |
| Tiger | 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 |
| Rabbit | 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 |
| Dragon | 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 |
| Snake | 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 |
| Horse | 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026 |
| Goat | 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027 |
| Monkey | 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028 |
| Rooster | 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029 |
| Dog | 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030 |
| Pig | 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031 |
Each year runs from its Chinese New Year to the day before the next one, so the years above are only a guide for January and February birthdays. The full chart below gives the exact start date for every year. To convert any other date to the Chinese calendar, or to find your lunar birthday, use the Chinese lunar calendar converter.