Enter your birth year to find out your Chinese Zodiac animal sign.
Your Zodiac sign will appear here.
Understanding the Chinese Zodiac
The Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao (生肖), is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed qualities to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The cycle consists of 12 animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each animal is associated with a specific year in a fixed order.
How the Zodiac Sign is Determined
The core of determining a Chinese Zodiac sign is based on the birth year. The calculation is straightforward and relies on the year's remainder when divided by 12. The formula is:
Zodiac Index = (Year - 4) % 12
The subtraction of 4 is because the cycle traditionally starts with the Rat in the year 4 AD (or year 1 of the Chinese era, often aligned with 2697 BCE, but for practical calculations, the 4 AD alignment is common in modern interpretations). The modulo 12 operation ensures that the result always falls within the range of 0 to 11, which then maps to one of the 12 zodiac animals.
The 12 Animals and Their Order:
0: Monkey
1: Rooster
2: Dog
3: Pig
4: Rat
5: Ox
6: Tiger
7: Rabbit
8: Dragon
9: Snake
10: Horse
11: Goat
Use Cases
This calculator is a fun and easy way to quickly identify your Chinese Zodiac animal. It's commonly used for:
Personal curiosity and entertainment.
Understanding personality traits associated with the zodiac sign.
Exploring compatibility with other signs for relationships or business.
Learning about traditional Chinese culture and astrology.
As a reference point for numerology or Feng Shui interpretations.
Please note that the Chinese Zodiac is a complex system that also incorporates elements, the five phases (Wu Xing), Yin and Yang, and the stem-branch calendar, which provide deeper layers of interpretation beyond just the animal sign. This calculator provides the fundamental animal sign based on the birth year.
function calculateZodiac() {
var yearInput = document.getElementById("birthYear");
var resultDiv = document.getElementById("result");
var year = parseInt(yearInput.value);
if (isNaN(year) || year < 0) {
resultDiv.innerHTML = "Please enter a valid birth year.";
resultDiv.style.backgroundColor = '#f8d7da'; /* Light red for error */
resultDiv.style.color = '#721c24';
resultDiv.style.borderColor = '#f5c6cb';
return;
}
var zodiacIndex = (year – 4) % 12;
var animals = [
"Monkey", "Rooster", "Dog", "Pig", "Rat", "Ox", "Tiger", "Rabbit", "Dragon", "Snake", "Horse", "Goat"
];
var animal = animals[zodiacIndex];
resultDiv.innerHTML = "Your Chinese Zodiac sign is: " + animal;
resultDiv.style.backgroundColor = '#d4edda'; /* Light success green */
resultDiv.style.color = '#155724'; /* Dark green text */
resultDiv.style.borderColor = '#c3e6cb';
}