What is my Chinese zodiac animal?

The Chinese zodiac names each year after one of twelve animals, cycling with five elements to make a sixty-year round. Enter a birth year to see the animal, element and the other years that share it.

The Chinese year runs from one Lunar New Year to the next, so a January or early-February birth may belong to the previous animal.

Your Chinese zodiac

2026 is the year of the Fire Horse (Yang).

Animal
Horse
Element
Fire
Yin or yang
Yang
Traits traditionally listed
active, free-spirited, warm
Other years of this animal
2002, 2014, 2026, 2038, 2050
Full cycle
60 years — twelve animals across five elements
If born before Lunar New Year
Wood Snake

Lunar New Year falls between 21 January and 20 February. If you were born before it in 2026, your animal is the Wood Snake — check the Lunar New Year date for your birth year to be certain.

How it is calculated

  • The animal repeats every twelve years and the element every ten, so the pair repeats every sixty years — the traditional sexagenary cycle.
  • Years alternate yin and yang; even years are yang and odd years are yin.
  • The Chinese year begins at Lunar New Year, which falls between 21 January and 20 February, not on 1 January.
  • That means a birth in January or early February may belong to the previous animal, which the result flags.

Where this is used in the real world

  • Lunar New Year cards, decorations and gifts keyed to the year’s animal.
  • Family history, where a relative’s birth year is remembered by its animal.
  • Travel and business in East and South-East Asia, where the animal year is part of everyday conversation.

Good to know

  • The exact Lunar New Year date changes every year because it follows a lunisolar calendar. If you were born in January or the first three weeks of February, check the date for your birth year.
  • Some traditions start the zodiac year at the solar term Lichun in early February instead of at Lunar New Year, which can give a different animal for late-January births.
  • Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese zodiacs share the cycle but differ on one or two animals — the Vietnamese cycle has a cat where the Chinese has a rabbit.

Questions people ask

What animal year is it now?

Enter the current year and the result names the animal and element, along with the other years in the same twelve-year run.

I was born in January — which animal am I?

Probably the previous year’s animal, unless you were born after Lunar New Year. The result shows both so you can check against the Lunar New Year date for your birth year.

What is the element for?

The five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — cycle alongside the animals in pairs of years, giving each combination a sixty-year gap before it repeats.