The twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac
The Chinese zodiac counts years, not months. Each starts at the lunar new year, so a January birthday is often the sign before.
- RatThe Rat opens the twelve-animal cycle of the Chinese zodiac, the ordering of years kept alongside the lunar calendar for many centuries. The table below lists the Rat years within the range this page covers, each running from one lunar new year to the day before the next.
- OxThe Ox is one of the twelve animals that name the years of the Chinese zodiac. This page sets out where it sits in the cycle, what the tradition says of it, and how its years are marked.
- TigerThe Tiger is the third animal of the Chinese zodiac, a cycle that names years in turn and returns each animal to the calendar once every twelve years. The tradition treats it as a sign of courage and standing, and its image appears widely in folk art made for children.
- RabbitThe Rabbit is one of the twelve animals that name the years of the Chinese zodiac. Its years begin at the lunar new year, and the tradition has carried a settled set of readings for the sign for a very long time.
- DragonThe Dragon is one of the twelve animals that name years in the Chinese zodiac, and the only one of them drawn from myth rather than from the farmyard, the forest, or the river. This page sets out where it sits in the cycle, what the tradition associates with it, and how the customs around it work.
- SnakeThe Snake is the sixth animal of the Chinese zodiac, a cycle of years that turns at the lunar new year and pairs each animal with the five elements over a longer round.
- HorseThe Horse is one of the twelve animals that name years in the Chinese zodiac. This page sets out where it sits in the cycle, what the tradition associates with it, and how its years are counted and marked.
- GoatThe Goat is one of the twelve animals that give their names to years in the Chinese zodiac. Also called the Sheep or the Ram in English, it takes its name from a single Chinese word that covers the whole family of the animal. Its years begin at the lunar new year and carry an elemental pairing that changes each time the animal returns.
- MonkeyThe Monkey is the ninth animal of the Chinese zodiac, a cycle that names years rather than months. This page sets out where the Monkey sits in that order, what the tradition says about the sign, and how its years are marked.
- RoosterThe Rooster is the tenth of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, the sign whose crow the tradition places at the turn from night to day. Years carrying its name begin at the lunar new year and run to the day before the next one.
- DogThe Dog is the eleventh of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, a cycle that names years rather than months and that turns at the lunar new year. This page sets out where the Dog sits in that sequence, the qualities the tradition attaches to the sign, and the customs that gather around its years.
- PigThe Pig closes the round of twelve animals that name the years in the Chinese calendar. This page sets out where the Pig sits in that cycle, what the tradition says of it, and the customs its years carry.