How we calculate your Chinese zodiac sign

Your sign comes from a short piece of arithmetic and one date: the day Chinese New Year began in your birth year. This page shows both, and says how we check the dates.

The calculation

The Chinese zodiac repeats every 12 years, starting with the Rat. To get the animal for a year, subtract 4 and divide by 12. The remainder points to the animal: 0 is Rat, 1 Ox, 2 Tiger, 3 Rabbit, 4 Dragon, 5 Snake, 6 Horse, 7 Goat, 8 Monkey, 9 Rooster, 10 Dog, 11 Pig.

The element follows the last digit of the year: 0 or 1 is Metal, 2 or 3 is Water, 4 or 5 is Wood, 6 or 7 is Fire, 8 or 9 is Earth. Yin or yang follows whether the year is odd or even: even years are yang, odd years are yin. The animal and element together repeat every 60 years.

A worked example for 1986: 1986 − 4 = 1982, and 1982 divided by 12 leaves 2, which is the Tiger. The last digit is 6, so the element is Fire. 1986 is even, so it is a yang year. That makes 1986 a Fire Tiger year.

This works on the lunar year, not the calendar year. That is why the date matters.

The New Year date

A Chinese zodiac year begins on Chinese New Year, which falls between about January 21 and February 20. If you were born before that date, your animal is the one from the year before. For example, someone born on January 15, 1986 is an Ox, because the Tiger year only started on February 9, 1986. Each birth-year page shows the exact start date, and the birth years table lists them all.

Chinese New Year is set by the moon, not by a fixed date. It is usually the day of the second new moon after the December solstice, and a leap month in some years shifts it. We use the date in China Standard Time. A lunar year ends on the day before the next New Year, so it is either about 354 or about 384 days long.

How we check the dates

Our table covers 1930 to 2044. We check it two ways:

Against published tables. We spot-checked dates against the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian-Lunar conversion table (1901–2100) and the New Year lists on pinyin.info (2000–2099).
Against our own calculation. In October 2026 we worked out the astronomical new moon for each year in China Standard Time and compared it with our table. All 115 years agree, including the awkward ones where two new moons fall in the January and February window (1985, 2004, 2023, 2034 and 2042, for example).

Dates for years that have not happened yet are calculated, not announced. Calendar authorities publish them well ahead, and we recheck the table when we add new years.

Compatibility

The compatibility pages follow a traditional framework. Animals four years apart sit in the same triangle of affinity, and there are six pairs known as secret friends. Opposite animals, six years apart, are a clash pair, and a few other pairs are called harm pairs. Everything else is neutral. Each pairing page rates the match from Excellent to Difficult by those rules and then describes how it tends to play out. The ratings are a traditional way of talking about relationships, not a measurement.

What kind of statement is what

Calendar and arithmetic. Which animal belongs to a year, and when New Year fell. These have a correct answer and we aim to state it correctly.
Tradition and history. Stories like the Great Race, the affinity groups, lucky numbers and colors. We describe them as tradition and say where we can.
Traditional interpretation. Personality and relationship descriptions. These are our own summaries of how each sign is commonly described.
Evidence. We know of no scientific evidence that your birth year predicts your personality or how a relationship will go. The site is for interest and entertainment, not advice.

Limits you should know about

If you were born on the New Year date itself, or within a day of it, and outside China, the time zone can change the answer. Check a calendar for your own birth place.
Some families and regions follow the zodiac slightly differently. We describe the common version.
Famous people on the sign pages are included only where their birth date falls in a year of that animal by our own table.

Sources and further reading

Corrections

Dates last checked in October 2026. If you find a wrong date or a fact that looks off, tell us at hello@thezodiacanimal.com with the page address and we will look at it. More about who we are is on the Mithila Labs page.