🐉 Chinese Zodiac Calculator
Find your Chinese zodiac animal, element and yin or yang from your birth date, using the real Lunar New Year so January and February births are right.
The zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year (late January to mid-February), not January 1 — so the full date matters for early-year birthdays.
This zodiac year began on January 27, 1990 and lasted until Lunar New Year on February 15, 1991.
Recent and upcoming zodiac years
| Year | Sign | Lunar New Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 🐂 Metal Ox | February 12, 2021 |
| 2022 | 🐅 Water Tiger | February 1, 2022 |
| 2023 | 🐇 Water Rabbit | January 22, 2023 |
| 2024 | 🐉 Wood Dragon | February 10, 2024 |
| 2025 | 🐍 Wood Snake | January 29, 2025 |
| 2026 | 🐎 Fire Horse | February 17, 2026 |
| 2027 | 🐐 Fire Goat | February 6, 2027 |
| 2028 | 🐒 Earth Monkey | January 26, 2028 |
| 2029 | 🐓 Earth Rooster | February 13, 2029 |
| 2030 | 🐕 Metal Dog | February 3, 2030 |
| 2031 | 🐖 Metal Pig | January 23, 2031 |
| 2032 | 🐀 Water Rat | February 11, 2032 |
The zodiac is a cultural tradition. Traits and compatibility are shown as they are traditionally described, not as predictions.
What Chinese Zodiac Calculator Does
This Chinese zodiac calculator finds your zodiac animal, element and yin or yang from your full date of birth. That detail matters: the zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year, which moves between January 21 and February 20, so anyone born in January or early February may belong to the previous year’s animal. The calculator works out the Lunar New Year date for every year from 1900 to 2100 and tells you which side of it your birthday falls.
Alongside the animal you get the year’s element and its traditional name in the 60-year stem-and-branch cycle — 2026, for example, is a Fire Horse year, 丙午 (Bǐng-Wǔ) — plus the traits, compatible signs and clashing sign traditionally associated with it, and when your animal’s year comes round again.
How to Use Chinese Zodiac Calculator
- Enter your date of birth
- Read your animal, element and yin or yang
- See when your zodiac year began and ended
- Check the traditional traits, best matches and clash
- Browse recent and upcoming zodiac years in the table
Formula Used by Chinese Zodiac Calculator
Animal and element from the lunar year
Animal = (year − 4) mod 12 (0 = Rat) · Stem = (year − 4) mod 10, element = stem ÷ 2 (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water)
Worked example
The lunar year beginning February 17, 2026.
- (2026 − 4) mod 12 = 6 → Horse
- (2026 − 4) mod 10 = 2 → Fire, yang
Result: Year of the Fire Horse.
The Twelve Animals
Each year begins at Lunar New Year, not January 1.
| Animal | Recent years | Traditional best matches |
|---|---|---|
| Rat 🐀 | 2008, 2020, 2032 | Dragon, Monkey |
| Ox 🐂 | 2009, 2021, 2033 | Snake, Rooster |
| Tiger 🐅 | 2010, 2022, 2034 | Horse, Dog |
| Rabbit 🐇 | 2011, 2023, 2035 | Goat, Pig |
| Dragon 🐉 | 2012, 2024, 2036 | Rat, Monkey |
| Snake 🐍 | 2013, 2025, 2037 | Ox, Rooster |
| Horse 🐎 | 2014, 2026, 2038 | Tiger, Dog |
| Goat 🐐 | 2015, 2027, 2039 | Rabbit, Pig |
| Monkey 🐒 | 2016, 2028, 2040 | Rat, Dragon |
| Rooster 🐓 | 2017, 2029, 2041 | Ox, Snake |
| Dog 🐕 | 2018, 2030, 2042 | Tiger, Horse |
| Pig 🐖 | 2019, 2031, 2043 | Rabbit, Goat |
How to Read Your Result
Your “benming nian”
In Chinese tradition the year of your own animal — every 12 years — is called benming nian and is considered a year to be careful; many people wear red for luck during it. The calculator shows when yours next begins.
A calendar, not a forecast
The zodiac is part of a lunisolar calendar used for festivals, naming years and cultural traditions across East and Southeast Asia. Traits and compatibility are shown as they are traditionally described; they are folklore, not predictions, and there is no scientific evidence for them.
Limitations & Accuracy Notes
- Lunar New Year dates are computed astronomically and match published dates in every year checked; for a birthday within a day of Lunar New Year, confirm with an almanac.
- Some traditions, such as parts of Chinese astrology (BaZi), start the zodiac year at Lichun around February 4 instead of Lunar New Year.
- Vietnamese and other zodiacs replace some animals (the Cat for the Rabbit, for example).