1985 Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Wood Ox

Detail	1985
Animal	Ox (牛)
Element	Wood, yin
Stem and branch	Yi Chou (乙丑)
Year starts	February 20, 1985
Year ends	February 8, 1986
Year before	1984, Wood Rat
Year after	1986, Fire Tiger

Born in January or February 1985?

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 1985 it fell on February 20 (China time), so the Ox starts with births on that day and everyone born before it in 1985 is still a Wood 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 Wood Ox

Wood stands for growth, generosity and cooperation. Tradition links it to spring, to trees and new shoots, and reads a Wood year as adding vitality, imagination and a wish to help others flourish. Wood people are described as idealistic, creative and good at building networks. The classical shadow is overextension: taking on more than there is time for, and bending to others' wishes until the original direction is lost. Wood gives the animal room to expand and a sense of shared purpose.

Just enough give lets the Wood Ox grow. Tradition describes the most cooperative of the Oxen: honest and hardworking, open to other views, generous with help. It grows toward the light and flexes with the group. A good colleague and a patient mentor, it finds a request hard to refuse, and its calendar fills with other people's urgencies. Overcommitment is the shadow. Protecting its own energy is the old advice, along with accepting that good work can be shared. The Wood Ox does best when it picks one cause to carry all the way and politely hands the rest on.

The same pairing of element and animal returns every sixty years, so 1925 and 2045 are Wood Ox years as well. The other wood year next to 1985 is 1984, a Wood 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, 1985 Wood Ox (this page), 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 1985 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.