Chinese Zodiac Calculator

The Chinese zodiac assigns one of twelve animals to each lunar year in a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Your animal sign follows the lunar year you were born in — not always the same as your Gregorian calendar year.

If you were born before Lunar New Year in a given year, tradition assigns the previous year’s animal. This calculator compares your date to published Lunar New Year dates between 1990 and 2030 and also shows the heavenly stem element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) paired with the year.

Example: born February 1, 2024 is still the Year of the Rabbit because Lunar New Year 2024 fell on February 10. Born February 15, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Results are for cultural fun — traditions vary by region and diaspora community.

The twelve animals are only half of the traditional cycle. Pairing them with ten heavenly stems produces the sexagenary cycle of sixty year-names, which is why a full combination such as Wood Dragon recurs every 60 years rather than every 12. That longer cycle is what makes a sixtieth birthday culturally significant in several East Asian traditions.

Elements attach to years in pairs, following the stems. Each of the five elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — covers two consecutive years in yang and yin form, so 2024 and 2025 are both Wood years before 2026 moves to Fire. The element shown here is derived from the year alone.

The boundary date is the detail most people get wrong about their own sign. Because the lunar year begins somewhere between late January and late February, anyone born in January or early February belongs to the previous animal year — a January 2024 birthday is a Rabbit, not a Dragon, under the lunisolar rule.

Some traditions use a different boundary entirely. Chinese astrological practice often begins the zodiac year at Lichun, the solar term marking the start of spring around February 4, rather than at Lunar New Year. The two can fall on either side of a birthday, which is why almanacs occasionally disagree about a sign.

A full BaZi or four-pillars reading uses far more than the year. It combines stem-and-branch pairs for year, month, day, and hour of birth, which is why practitioners ask for a birth time. Treat the animal-and-element result here as cultural context; traditions and interpretations vary widely by region and diaspora community.