1973 Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Water Ox

Detail	1973
Animal	Ox (牛)
Element	Water, yin
Stem and branch	Gui Chou (癸丑)
Year starts	February 3, 1973
Year ends	January 22, 1974
Year before	1972, Water Rat
Year after	1974, Wood Tiger

Born in January or February 1973?

The Chinese year does not start on January 1. It starts at Chinese New Year, which follows the Moon and usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, somewhere between January 21 and February 20. In 1973 it fell on February 3 (China time), so the Ox starts with births on that day and everyone born before it in 1973 is still a Water Rat. If your birthday sits close to the line, the Chinese zodiac calculator checks the exact date for you.

The Ox in Chinese astrology

The Ox is the patient worker of the zodiac, tied in Chinese astrology to endurance, honesty and a plain, dependable way of speaking. Ox people are described as methodical, loyal to their commitments and slow to anger, with a liking for routine and for finishing one thing before starting another. Others tend to find them steady company: their word holds, and their effort does not fade when the novelty does.

The old texts also note what that solidity costs. An Ox can be stubborn once a view is formed, uneasy with sudden change, and slow to say what is wrong until the pressure has built for a long time. Praise lands awkwardly, and so does asking for help. Read generously, the Ox teaches the value of showing up every day. Friends of an Ox may need to give notice before a surprise, and to ask directly how the Ox is doing, because the answer rarely arrives unprompted.

The Water Ox

Water is the element of depth, adaptability and intuition in Chinese astrology. Tradition links it to winter, to flowing streams and still pools, and reads a Water year as making the animal more perceptive, flexible and communicative. Water people are described as thoughtful listeners who find the way around an obstacle. The classical shadow is a tendency to absorb other people's moods, to worry, or to drift without a clear direction. Water gives the animal reach and sensitivity.

On paper this is an odd pairing, a stubborn animal with a yielding element, and tradition makes a virtue of it. The Water Ox is read as the most approachable of the Oxen: a steady worker who listens and can change course when the evidence asks. It bends and persists. In private it is quieter and more empathic than it looks at work, and colleagues often bring it problems that have nothing to do with the job. Moods may be stored for too long, and worries rarely voiced. A regular outlet for the feelings, such as a long walk or a trusted confidant, is the old advice.

The same pairing of element and animal returns every sixty years, so 1913 and 2033 are Water Ox years as well. The other water year next to 1973 is 1972, a Water Rat, because each element lasts two years, one yang and one yin.

Ox compatibility

Tradition groups the twelve animals into four trines of three. The Ox shares its trine with the Snake and the Rooster, the pairings read as the easiest. Its secret friend, a second close match, is the Rat, while the Goat, six places away on the wheel, is read as its clash. These are tendencies of the tradition, not verdicts on any couple.

The Ox is read as a faithful, practical partner who shows love through steady acts: fixing the thing, turning up on time, remembering the long-term plan. Oxen are slow to commit and slower to leave, and they value a home that feels settled. Words of affection may come sparingly, which others sometimes misread as coolness. The Ox does best with a partner who says out loud what the quiet gestures already mean.

The Ox at work

Diligence and long-range building are what the tradition associates with the Ox. Ox people are described as thorough and patient with detail. With money they are careful savers who prefer steady growth to quick gains and dislike debt. Rigidity is the usual snag: a slow response to new methods, and a reluctance to delegate or to ask for the credit they have earned.

Other Ox years

The Ox comes back every twelve years, each time with the next element: 1937 Fire Ox, 1949 Earth Ox, 1961 Metal Ox, 1973 Water Ox (this page), 1985 Wood Ox, 1997 Fire Ox, 2009 Earth Ox, 2021 Metal Ox.

Your Western sign

Your Chinese sign comes from your birth year. Western astrology works from the sky on the day you were born instead: your Sun sign follows the date, and your Moon sign and rising sign also need the time and place. Two people born in 1973 share the Ox and can still have any of the twelve Western Sun signs. Draw your free birth chart to see your Sun, Moon and rising sign together, or look up your Sun sign by date with the zodiac sign dates calculator.

All twelve animals, the five elements and every year from 1930 to 2030 are listed in Chinese zodiac years.