Chinese Zodiac Calculator
What is your Chinese zodiac animal?
Most calculators get January and February birthdays wrong. Your animal changes on Lunar New Year, not January 1. Enter your birth date and we look it up against a researched Lunar New Year table covering 1900 to 2050, then read your element, yin or yang nature, personality, this year's fortune and compatibility.
Born close to Lunar New Year? We check the exact date, so late January and early February birthdays land on the right animal.
Rat
Why this animal
Personality
Your 2026
Compatibility
Meet the twelve animals
Tap any animal to see its full reading. The year ranges below follow Lunar New Year, so a January baby may belong to the previous animal.
Who matches whom
The twelve animals form four trine groups of natural allies. Opposite the wheel sit six clashing pairs, and each animal also has one secret friend it harmonizes with quietly.
The six clashing pairs
The 60-year cycle: stems and branches
A Chinese year is not named by its animal alone. It carries a full name made of two parts: one of the Ten Heavenly Stems and one of the Twelve Earthly Branches. The stem gives the year's element and its yin or yang quality; the branch gives the animal.
The ten stems pair the five elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, with yin and yang in turn: yang Wood, yin Wood, yang Fire, yin Fire, and so on. Because 10 and 12 share no common divisor except 2, the pairings cycle through 60 unique combinations before repeating. That is the Jiazi cycle.
So 2026 is not just the year of the Horse. It is Bing Wu, the Yang Fire Horse. The previous Yang Fire Horse year was 1966, and the next will be 2086. Your element comes from your birth year's stem: years ending in 4 or 5 are Wood, 6 or 7 are Fire, 8 or 9 are Earth, 0 or 1 are Metal, and 2 or 3 are Water. An even stem position means yang, an odd one means yin.
Note for astrology students: the year pillar used in BaZi (four pillars) charts traditionally changes at Lichun, around February 4, not on Lunar New Year. This calculator follows the popular zodiac convention, which changes on Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year dates 1900 to 2050 (our researched table)
| Year | Lunar New Year | Animal | Element |
|---|
Dates cross-checked against three independent published tables. See our verification notes in the FAQ.
Frequently asked questions
Why do most calculators get my sign wrong?
Because they assign your animal from January 1. The Chinese year actually begins on Lunar New Year, which falls between January 21 and February 20. If you were born on February 4, 2000, you are a Rabbit, not a Dragon: the Dragon year only began on February 5, 2000.
Where do your Lunar New Year dates come from?
Our table is built from The Chinese Lunar Calendar 1800-2100 (Tilman Aretz, Wonderful Taiwan Forum, Taipei 2024), and every date from 2000 to 2050 was cross-checked against two further published tables. All 151 years also pass a calendar sanity check: consecutive New Years always fall 353 to 385 days apart, exactly the length of a lunar year.
How is my element decided?
From the heavenly stem of your birth year. Look at the last digit of the year: 4 and 5 give Wood, 6 and 7 give Fire, 8 and 9 give Earth, 0 and 1 give Metal, 2 and 3 give Water. So 1990 is a Metal year and 2026 is a Fire year. An even stem position is yang, an odd one is yin.
What are trines and clashes?
The twelve animals form four trine groups of three allies each: Rat, Dragon and Monkey; Ox, Snake and Rooster; Tiger, Horse and Dog; Rabbit, Goat and Pig. Animals sitting opposite each other form six clashing pairs: Rat and Horse, Ox and Goat, Tiger and Monkey, Rabbit and Rooster, Dragon and Dog, Snake and Pig.
What is 2026 in the Chinese zodiac?
2026 is the year of the Yang Fire Horse, Bing Wu. Lunar New Year fell on February 17, 2026. It is a Ben Ming Nian, an own-sign year, for everyone born in a Horse year, when tradition advises a little extra care alongside bold moves.
Does this page read my full BaZi chart?
Not yet. A complete BaZi (four pillars) chart needs the day and hour stems, which depend on exact solar-time tables we are still verifying against classical references. The year reading on this page, animal, element, yin or yang, fortune and compatibility, is complete and verified. Day and hour pillars will arrive in a later release.
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