Born in 1933: the Rooster

1933 is a yin year, a Water Rooster. In the traditional calendar it carries the two-part name 癸酉 (guǐyǒu), year 10 of the 60-year cycle. The Water element adds an adaptable, perceptive and persuasive streak to the Rooster's base character (observant, hardworking, direct), and this is the quieter, more reflective half of the cycle.

The 1933 lunar year ran from January 26, 1933 up to the day before Chinese New Year 1934 (February 14, 1934). If you were born on or after January 26, 1933 you are a Rooster; if you were born earlier in 1933, you belong to the previous year's sign, the Monkey. Someone born in 1933 turns 93 in 2026 (or 92 until their birthday for the year).

Calendar note: 1933's Chinese New Year fell on a Thursday, and that lunar year ran 384 days — a long, 13-month year with an inserted leap month.

What the Water element adds

Water is the element of winter, depth and adaptability. A Water year makes an animal more intuitive and persuasive, better at reading people and bending around obstacles rather than confronting them head-on.

The full 60-year cycle pairs each of the 12 animals with each of the 5 elements, so a Water Rooster year comes around only once every 60 years — the last one before 1933 was 1873, and the next is 1993. People born in it are said to combine observant and hardworking with the element's adaptable nature. Every Rooster year is yin (the quieter, inward type). See the Water element and the full Water Rooster profile.

1933 at a glance

Animal	🐓 Rooster (鸡)
Element	Water
Yin or yang	yin
Traditional year name	癸酉 (guǐyǒu)
Place in the 60-year cycle	10 of 60
Zodiac year runs	January 26, 1933 to February 13, 1934
Age in 2026	92–93
Traditional best match	Dragon
Traditional hardest match	Rabbit
Lucky numbers	5, 7, 8
Lucky colors	gold, brown, yellow

Rooster compatibility

In the traditional chart, a 1933 Rooster gets on best with the Dragon (the "secret friend" pairing), and also with Ox and Snake. The hardest pairing is the Rabbit, six years apart in the cycle. See the full Rooster compatibility table.

Where a birthday around 1933 lands

The zodiac year does not follow the calendar year, so 1933 is spread across two calendar years. This table shows exactly which animal a birthday gets.

Birthday	Zodiac animal
January 1 to January 25, 1933	Monkey (the 1932 year)
January 26, 1933 to December 31, 1933	Rooster
January 1, 1934 to February 13, 1934	Rooster (still the 1933 year)
February 14, 1934 onward	Dog (the 1934 year)

Zodiac years ahead for a 1933 Rooster

The next own-sign year for someone born in 1933 is 2029, around age 96, then 2041, around age 108. Tradition calls this your běnmìngnián. Despite being "your" year, it is thought to clash with Tài Suì (the God of Age) and to carry a higher chance of setbacks, so many people wear red through it for protection.

The element pair: 1933 and 1932

Water years come in pairs. 1933 is the yin year and 1932 is the yang year, the Monkey. So a 1933 Rooster and a 1932 Monkey share an element and sit one year apart in the cycle. The traditional chart rates the Rooster and Monkey pairing as moderate: it has no special bond or conflict, so how well it goes depends on the two people more than on the calendar. See the Rooster and Monkey pairing.

Other Rooster years

1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005 2017 2029 2041

Full Rooster personality profile →   Rooster compatibility with every sign →

Know your exact birth date? Use the calculator for your full combination →

What a Water year changes for the Rooster

Talking. In conversation, a Water Rooster gets more strategic about it, choosing words to manage how the other person reacts, which is the main way 1933's version differs from the same animal born under another element.

Work. Water deepens and adds subtlety to the Rooster's usual working style, so a 1933 Rooster tends to run things with more patience for reading the room than most. The kind of work the sign suits stays the same; the element changes how the job gets done.

Love. Water is the element of winter, depth and adaptability, so in a relationship a Water Rooster shows affection in quieter, more perceptive ways.

For the sign as a whole (how the Rooster communicates, works and loves in every element) see the Rooster profile. This page covers what is different about 1933.

Known Roosters

Well-known Roosters — sharing the animal though not this exact 1933 birth year or Water element — include Beyoncé, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Gwen Stefani. None of the people listed here were born in the 1933 lunar year, but they're commonly cited as examples of the Rooster's observant streak.