No. 04 · Free
Chinese zodiac calculator
Enter your birth date and the calculator names your Chinese zodiac animal, its element and its polarity. Born in January or early February? We check the exact Chinese New Year date for your year, because before it you belong to the previous animal.
Awaiting your date
Touch any animal on the dial to see its recent years.
Your sign
Enter your birth year, ideally with day and month, press the button, and your animal appears here.
The 12 Chinese zodiac animals and their years
Animal · Years
- Rat1984 · 1996 · 2008 · 2020
- Ox1985 · 1997 · 2009 · 2021
- Tiger1986 · 1998 · 2010 · 2022
- Rabbit1987 · 1999 · 2011 · 2023
- Dragon1988 · 2000 · 2012 · 2024
- Snake1989 · 2001 · 2013 · 2025
- Horse1990 · 2002 · 2014 · 2026
- Goat1991 · 2003 · 2015 · 2027
- Monkey1992 · 2004 · 2016 · 2028
- Rooster1993 · 2005 · 2017 · 2029
- Dog1994 · 2006 · 2018 · 2030
- Pig1995 · 2007 · 2019 · 2031
Years shown begin at Chinese New Year, not on January 1. A January or early February birthday usually belongs to the previous animal, which the calculator checks for you.
§ 01
How the Chinese zodiac works
The Chinese zodiac assigns each lunar year one of twelve animals, in a fixed order from Rat to Pig. Your birth year's animal is said to color your temperament, your luck and how you meet the world.
Each year also carries one of five elements, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth, and a polarity of yin or yang. Animal, element and polarity repeat together only once every sixty years, so a Wood Dragon and a Metal Dragon are different creatures.
§ 02
Why January birthdays are tricky
The Chinese year does not start on January 1. It begins at Chinese New Year, which falls on a different date between late January and late February every year.
So a birthday on, say, January 20, 1990 lands before that year's new year and belongs to the Earth Snake of 1989, not the Metal Horse of 1990. This calculator carries the exact new year dates from 1900 to 2050 and does that check for you.
§ 03
Two zodiacs, one sky
Your Chinese animal comes from the year you were born; your western sun sign comes from the day. They answer different questions, and they get along fine: many people enjoy reading their character through both lenses.
If the western side of your sky is calling, NovaOracles computes your full birth chart from real astronomy, personal to the minute you were born.
Curious what the rest of your sky says?
Your Chinese animal is one story. Your full birth chart is another: rising sign, Moon, houses and aspects, computed for the exact minute you were born, with a daily reading on top.
Get your full chartTry the other one
Rising sign calculator