Chinese zodiac calculator
Find the animal and element for a birth date. January and February are checked against Chinese New Year. The date stays in your browser.
How the year is chosen
Chinese New Year is the first day of the lunar year, and it does not fall on 1 January. This form stores the new year date for every year from 1900 through 2100. A birth date on or after that new year takes that year's animal. A birth date before it takes the previous year.
The element follows the lunar year in pairs: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, then Water. It is the year's element, not a birth hour and not a four pillar chart. English names for the eighth animal vary. Goat, Sheep, and Ram point at the same year. This page says Goat.
Recent animal years
Each row lists the five most recent Gregorian years whose Chinese New Year for that animal has already begun. A year is included only on or after that new year date, from the same 1900 to 2100 list as the calculator.
| Animal | Recent years |
|---|---|
| Rat | |
| Ox | |
| Tiger | |
| Rabbit | |
| Dragon | |
| Snake | |
| Horse | |
| Goat | |
| Monkey | |
| Rooster | |
| Dog | |
| Pig |
Questions
Why can January or February birthdays fall in the previous animal year?
Chinese New Year falls on a different civil date each year, from 21 January to 20 February. A birthday before that date still belongs to the previous animal and element. This page uses new year dates from 1900 through 2100, in China Standard Time. Leave month and day empty to use the animal year that starts at new year.
How do the animal and the element fit together?
The animal repeats every 12 years, and the element repeats every two years in the order Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The same animal and element together come back every 60 years. 1984 is a Wood Rat year, while 2020 is a Metal Rat year. This page attaches the element to the lunar year, not to a birth hour.
What dates can this calculator place?
The new year list covers 1 January 1900 through 31 December 2100. Dates in early January 1900, before 31 January, still belong to the 1899 Earth Pig year. The page will not guess outside that span. The animal table lower on this page lists the five most recent years for each animal whose new year has already begun.
Does this switch years at Start of Spring instead?
Some Chinese fortune systems change the year at Start of Spring, a solar term in early February, instead of at the lunar new year. Those two dates are several days apart. This calculator uses Chinese New Year, the first day of the lunar year. It does not ask for a birth hour and it does not build a pillar chart.
Is the trait line a prediction?
The trait paragraph is a general sketch of how that animal is often described, written for curiosity. It is not a forecast, and it does not say what a person will do. Millions of people share the same animal. Read it the way the horoscopes on this site are meant to be read: a pattern, not a promise.