To find your Chinese zodiac sign, start with your birth year. The twelve animals repeat in a fixed order every twelve years, so the year sets the animal. The chinese zodiac calculator returns the animal plus the element and the yin or yang polarity that make up the full sign, such as Yang Wood Dragon for 2024.
The twelve animals
The animals run in this order and repeat every twelve years: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Once you know the animal for one year, count forward or back in twelves to reach any other year of the same animal.
The element and polarity
The animal is only part of the sign. Two more cycles run alongside it:
- Element, cycling through wood, fire, earth, metal and water, with each element holding for two years before the next.
- Polarity, alternating yin and yang each year, with even years yang and odd years yin.
Combine the three and you get a full sign like Yin Wood Snake for 2025. Because the element cycle of ten years and the animal cycle of twelve years line up only every sixty years, the full sign repeats on a sixty-year cycle.
The lunar new year catch
The Chinese zodiac year does not begin on 1 January. It starts at Chinese New Year, which falls in late January or February and shifts from year to year. If you were born before that date in a given year, your sign belongs to the previous year. The chinese zodiac calculator works from the calendar year, so for a January or early February birthday, enter the year before to match the lunar year.
Comparing across a family
Because the sign is year-based, everyone born in the same lunar year shares an animal, which makes it easy to compare across a family. Enter each birth year in the chinese zodiac calculator to see the animals side by side. For the western system, which uses the birthday date instead, see how to find your zodiac sign.