Zodiac Sign Finder
Find your Western star sign and Chinese zodiac animal from any birth date — twelve signs by date range, twelve animals by year.
Aries
- Traits
- bold, energetic, direct
Dragon
- Year
- Metal Dragon · 庚辰
- Element
- Metal — strong-willed, determined, ambitious
- Traits
- confident, ambitious, energetic
- Best matches
- Monkey, Rat
- Clashes with
- Dog
- Lunar year
- Feb 5, 2000 – Jan 23, 2001
- Your own zodiac years
- 2036: Jan 28, 2036 – Feb 14, 20372048: Feb 14, 2048 – Feb 1, 2049
Ben Ming Nian (本命年): tradition holds that the year of your own animal, which comes round every 12 years, is one to tread carefully in, and that wearing red wards off its bad luck.
Why the two answers are counted differently: the star sign comes from the day and month alone — where the sun stood — so it is the same every year; the animal comes from the lunar year of birth, in a 12-year cycle that turns at Lunar New Year, so a birthday in January or early February takes the year before's animal.
Traits, matches, clashes and lucky or unlucky years are traditional readings, told here as folklore — not predictions.
The Year of the Fire Horse · 丙午, Feb 17, 2026 – Feb 5, 2027
The twelve animals and their years
Lunar years from 1924 to 2043. Each begins at the Lunar New Year, in late January or February; pick a year to see its exact span.
| Rat | 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032 |
|---|---|
| Ox | 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033 |
| Tiger | 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034 |
| Rabbit | 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035 |
| Dragon | 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036 |
| Snake | 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037 |
| Horse | 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026, 2038 |
| Goat | 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039 |
| Monkey | 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028, 2040 |
| Rooster | 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, 2041 |
| Dog | 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030, 2042 |
| Pig | 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031, 2043 |
Two zodiacs from one birth date
Enter a birth date and instantly see two things: the Western zodiac (star) sign for that day of the year, and the Chinese zodiac animal for that year. The Western sign comes from the month and day using the standard date ranges astrologers use — for example anyone born on March 25 is an Aries, and anyone born on December 25 is a Capricorn. The Chinese animal comes from the year and cycles through twelve animals — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig — so 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Both results update live as you change the date, and each can be copied with one click. Under each answer the page adds the traits the sign or the animal is traditionally read for, and under the animal the year's element and its name in the sixty-year cycle, with the animals it is said to match and to clash with. Below the answers the page names the current zodiac year with the dates it starts and ends, lists the coming years of your own animal — your Ben Ming Nian — and opens a table of all twelve animals with their lunar years, where each year is a link that opens it here. A line under the answers says why the two are counted differently: the star sign from the day and month alone, the animal from the lunar year, which turns at Lunar New Year.
How the signs are worked out
The twelve Western signs each occupy a fixed span of the calendar, so the sign depends only on the month and day, never the year. Dates that fall on a cusp — the last day of one sign or the first day of the next — use the widely accepted boundary dates, so March 20 is the last day of Pisces and March 21 is the first day of Aries. The Chinese zodiac repeats every twelve years, and its year starts at the Lunar New Year in late January or February rather than on 1 January — so this tool looks up the real new-year date for every year from 1900 to 2100, and a birthday that falls before it gets the previous year's animal. Someone born on 26 January 1990 is a Snake and someone born a day later is a Horse. Outside those two centuries there is no table to look in, so the tool says the animal is unknown rather than guessing.
Frequently asked questions
Which sign do I get if I was born on a cusp?
This tool uses the common boundary dates, assigning each day to a single sign. For example March 20 returns Pisces and March 21 returns Aries. There is no overlap — every date maps to exactly one Western sign.
Why might my Chinese animal differ from another source?
The traditional Chinese zodiac year begins at the Lunar New Year, which falls in late January or February, and this tool follows it: it looks the real new-year date up in a table covering 1900 to 2100, so a birthday before that date returns the previous year's animal. Sources that simply use the Gregorian year disagree for January and early-February birthdays — 26 January 1990 is a Snake here and a Horse there.
Does it show the element and which signs match?
Yes. Under the animal it prints the year's name in the sixty-year cycle with its element — 2024 is the Wood Dragon, 甲辰 — and the traits that element and animal are traditionally read for, then Best matches (the two animals it forms a trine with) and Clashes with (the one six years away). The star sign gets a Traits line too. The element follows the lunar year as the animal does, so a January birthday takes the year before's. These are folklore, given as the traditions tell them.
What is the current zodiac year, and when is my own year next?
The current zodiac year, under the answers, names the lunar year running now with the dates it starts and ends, taking today as your browser reckons it; the birth date’s own lunar year gets its dates too. Your own zodiac years lists the next years of your animal from the one running now, each with its dates, and marks this year when it is one, beside what tradition holds about Ben Ming Nian — a year to tread carefully in, with red worn against its bad luck — told as folklore, not as a prediction. The twelve animals and their years lists every animal with its lunar years, and picking a year opens it in the tool with its exact span.
Why are the star sign and the animal worked out differently?
Because they come from different calendars. The star sign depends only on the day and month — where the sun stood — so it is the same every year. The animal comes from the lunar year of birth, which turns at Lunar New Year, so a birthday in January or early February takes the year before’s animal. A line under the two answers says the same, right beside them.