Chinese Zodiac Calculator
Find your Chinese zodiac animal from your date of birth — with the Lunar New Year boundary applied, plus element and polarity.
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What this tool does
Find your Chinese zodiac animal from your date of birth — with the Lunar New Year boundary applied, plus element and polarity. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
How to use the Chinese Zodiac Calculator
- Enter or select date of birth (yyyy-mm-dd).
- Read the calculated result; change any measurement to compare alternatives.
Formula
lunar year = birth year, minus 1 if the birth date falls before that year's Lunar New Year (table covers 1980–2035); animal = 12-year cycle anchored on 2020 = Rat; element = 10-year cycle anchored on 2024 = Wood
- birth
- Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)
The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
Worked example
For chinese zodiac calculator, the following measurements illustrate the exact method: Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1990-06-15.
Inputs
- Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)1990-06-15
Result
- Chinese zodiac animalHorse
- ElementMetal
- PolarityYang
- Lunar year used1,990
- Other years of the Horse1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014
Recent lunar years
| Lunar year | Animal | Lunar New Year begins |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Rat | January 25, 2020 |
| 2021 | Ox | February 12, 2021 |
| 2022 | Tiger | February 1, 2022 |
| 2023 | Rabbit | January 22, 2023 |
| 2024 | Dragon | February 10, 2024 |
| 2025 | Snake | January 29, 2025 |
| 2026 | Horse | February 17, 2026 |
| 2027 | Goat | February 6, 2027 |
| 2028 | Monkey | January 26, 2028 |
| 2029 | Rooster | February 13, 2029 |
| 2030 | Dog | February 3, 2030 |
| 2031 | Pig | January 23, 2031 |
Results explained
- Chinese zodiac animal
- Chinese zodiac animal from the formula above. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
- Element
- Element from the formula above. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
- Polarity
- Polarity from the formula above. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
- Lunar year used
- Lunar year used from the formula above. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
- Other years of the Horse
- Other years of the Horse from the formula above. The animal changes at Lunar New Year (late January/February), not on January 1: births before that year's new year take the previous year's animal. The built-in Lunar New Year table covers births from 1980 to 2035; outside that range the calendar-year cycle is used and the boundary is not applied.
Frequently asked questions
The Chinese zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year, which falls between January 21 and February 20. Someone born in January 1990, before the January 27 new year, is a Snake (1989's animal), not the 1990 Horse. This calculator applies that boundary using its Lunar New Year table.
The animals repeat in a fixed order — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig — one per lunar year. 2020 was Rat, so every year divisible into the same cycle position (2008, 2032…) is also Rat.
Each lunar year also carries one of five elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — from a 10-year cycle paired with the animals, giving a full 60-year cycle. 2024, for example, is the Wood Dragon year.
Births from 1980 through 2035 get the exact boundary. Outside that range the animal is taken from the calendar year, and January/February births in those years should be double-checked against a lunar calendar.
The full date matters because of the Lunar New Year boundary — two people born in the same Gregorian year can have different animals if one was born before and one after that year's new year.