Fun
Chinese Zodiac Calculator
Enter your birthday to find your Chinese zodiac animal, element and yin or yang, based on the actual Lunar New Year date for your birth year.
Lunar New Year dates follow the official Chinese calendar (China Standard Time). Personality traits and matches are folk tradition, shared for fun and cultural interest.
Play and explore in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Chinese zodiac sign depend on Lunar New Year?
The zodiac animals belong to years of the Chinese calendar, and a Chinese year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Lunar New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (occasionally the third), which puts it between January 21 and February 20. Anyone born in January or early February before that date belongs to the previous year’s animal. For example, someone born on January 20, 1990 is an Earth Snake, not a Metal Horse.
How are the element and yin or yang worked out?
Chinese years are counted in a 60-year cycle that combines ten Heavenly Stems with the twelve animals, the Earthly Branches. Each pair of stems belongs to one of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), so each element lasts two years, a yang year followed by a yin year. Yang years are those ending in an even digit and yin years those ending in an odd digit, using the zodiac year rather than the birth year. The full cycle repeats every 60 years, so 1966 and 2026 are both Fire Horse years.
How accurate are the Lunar New Year dates?
The dates for 1900 to 2100 were calculated from the rules of the Chinese calendar, using new moons and solar terms in China Standard Time. Every date matches the standard lunar calendar tables, and the years where the new moon falls within minutes of midnight were checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s published calendars. The date is the one used in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
I was born outside China. Does the time zone matter?
The zodiac year follows the Chinese calendar, which is reckoned in China Standard Time, and communities around the world celebrate on that date. In rare years other calendars differ: in 1985 Vietnam, which uses its own time zone, celebrated Tết a month earlier than China. If you were born on Lunar New Year’s Day itself very far from China, traditions differ on whether to use the local or the Chinese date.
What is Lichun and why do some sites give a different answer?
Lichun, the Start of Spring, is the solar term when the Sun reaches 315° ecliptic longitude, around February 4. Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi) astrology starts the year at Lichun instead of Lunar New Year, so for births between the two dates the two systems disagree. The page tells you when this applies to your birthday, but the Lunar New Year rule is the one used for popular zodiac signs.
Can the Chinese zodiac predict personality or compatibility?
No scientific study has shown that it can. The animal traits and the traditional best matches and clashes shown here come from folklore. They are part of a rich cultural tradition that people enjoy at New Year, not predictions or advice.
About this tool
This Chinese zodiac calculator tells you which of the twelve animals — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig — your birth year belongs to, together with its element and yin or yang. It also shows the year’s name in Chinese, such as 丙午 (bǐng wǔ) for the Fire Horse, and its place in the 60-year cycle.
The most common mistake with the Chinese zodiac is to go by the Gregorian year alone. Zodiac years begin at Lunar New Year, which moves between January 21 and February 20, so about one birthday in ten falls in the gap and belongs to the previous animal. The calculator checks your birth date against the actual Lunar New Year date for that year and explains the result when this applies to you.
The table of Lunar New Year dates for 1900 to 2100 was built from the rules of the modern Chinese calendar: months start on the day of the new moon in China Standard Time (Beijing local time before 1929), the eleventh month always contains the winter solstice, and a leap month is added when thirteen months begin between one winter solstice and the next. The new moons and solar terms were calculated with Jean Meeus’s astronomical algorithms. The resulting dates match the standard lunar calendar data for every year, and the close calls were checked against the Hong Kong Observatory.
The years of your animal are listed with their elements and exact start and end dates, handy for checking family members’ signs or finding the next year of your animal. Traditional compatibility follows the “three harmonies”, where the animals four years apart are said to get along, and the clash, the animal six years away. These traditions are included for fun and cultural interest.