Chinese Zodiac Calculator
Enter your birthday below. Month and day are optional but recommended if you were born in January or February, to ensure accuracy around the Chinese New Year boundary.
The 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals
The Chinese zodiac (生肖, Shēngxiào) is a repeating 12-year cycle, with each year assigned one of twelve animals. The system has been in continuous use since at least the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), though its origins may be even older. Click any animal below to read its full personality profile.
How the Chinese Zodiac Works
The Chinese zodiac assigns one of twelve animals to each year in a repeating cycle. But the system goes deeper than just the animal — each year also has:
- A Heavenly Stem — one of ten stems (天干) that determines the year's element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water) and its Yin-Yang polarity
- An Earthly Branch — one of twelve branches (地支) that corresponds to the zodiac animal
- A Five Element (Wu Xing) — the element from the Heavenly Stem shapes personality and fortune, creating a 60-year cycle of unique animal-element combinations
This means that while your zodiac animal repeats every 12 years, the exact same animal-element combination only repeats every 60 years. For example, a 1988 Earth Dragon is different from a 2000 Metal Dragon.
Learn more about the Chinese Calendar, Wu Xing Five Elements, and BaZi Four Pillars.
Chinese Zodiac Years Chart (1960–2031)
Quick reference for recent zodiac years. For the complete chart from 1924 to 2043, see our full zodiac years chart.