The five Chinese zodiac elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, and your element comes from the last digit of your Chinese birth year: 0 or 1 is Metal, 2 or 3 is Water, 4 or 5 is Wood, 6 or 7 is Fire, and 8 or 9 is Earth. Paired with the twelve animals, the elements make a sixty-year cycle, which is why a Fire Horse year, for example, comes round only once every sixty years.
The elements aren't decoration added to the animals. In Chinese thought they describe how things grow, peak, settle, harden and rest, and they turn up in medicine, feng shui, the calendar and BaZi as well as in the zodiac.
Find your element by birth year
Each element covers two years in a row, a yang year followed by a yin year. Behind each pair is one of the ten heavenly stems, the calendar's other counting system.
| Last digit | Element | Yin or yang | Heavenly stem | Example years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Metal | Yang | Geng 庚 | 1980, 2000, 2020 |
| 1 | Metal | Yin | Xin 辛 | 1981, 2001, 2021 |
| 2 | Water | Yang | Ren 壬 | 1982, 2002, 2022 |
| 3 | Water | Yin | Gui 癸 | 1983, 2003, 2023 |
| 4 | Wood | Yang | Jia 甲 | 1984, 2004, 2024 |
| 5 | Wood | Yin | Yi 乙 | 1985, 2005, 2025 |
| 6 | Fire | Yang | Bing 丙 | 1986, 2006, 2026 |
| 7 | Fire | Yin | Ding 丁 | 1987, 2007, 2027 |
| 8 | Earth | Yang | Wu 戊 | 1988, 2008, 2028 |
| 9 | Earth | Yin | Ji 己 | 1989, 2009, 2029 |
Use the Chinese year, not the calendar year. The Chinese year starts at Chinese New Year, between January 21 and February 20, so someone born on January 10, 1990 belongs to 1989 and is Earth, not Metal. The full list of New Year dates is in our guide to what your Chinese zodiac sign is.
What each element is associated with
Each element has a season, a direction and a color, and each gave its name to a planet: in Chinese, Jupiter is the Wood star, Mars the Fire star, Saturn the Earth star, Venus the Metal star and Mercury the Water star. The personality notes below are the popular readings you'll find in zodiac books, offered in that spirit.
- Wood: spring, the east, green (the Chinese color word, qing, also covers blue). The element of growth and new shoots. Wood people are described as generous planners who like to see things develop, and who can overcommit when every idea looks promising.
- Fire: summer, the south, red. Warmth, visibility, enthusiasm. Fire years are read as lively and expressive, quick to act and quick to inspire, and sometimes quick to burn out.
- Earth: the center, and the late-summer pause between seasons, yellow. Steadiness and care. Earth people are pictured as the reliable friend who remembers everyone's birthday and keeps the group fed.
- Metal: autumn, the west, white. Harvest, clarity, standards. Metal is linked with discipline and a clean, decisive way of working, and with finding it hard to bend.
- Water: winter, the north, black. Rest, depth, adaptability. Water people are described as reflective, perceptive and good at finding a way around an obstacle rather than through it.
How the elements feed and check each other
The elements are always in motion, and two cycles describe how they relate.
The generating cycle, in which each element feeds the next:
- Wood feeds Fire, as fuel.
- Fire makes Earth, as ash.
- Earth bears Metal, as ore in the ground.
- Metal carries Water, as dew forms on cool metal.
- Water nourishes Wood, as rain feeds a tree.
The controlling cycle, in which each element keeps another in check: Wood parts Earth, as roots hold soil; Earth dams Water; Water puts out Fire; Fire melts Metal; Metal cuts Wood.
Neither cycle is good or bad on its own. Feeding can exhaust the one doing the feeding, and checking can be the thing that keeps a situation stable. These cycles are the backbone of a BaZi reading, where a practitioner weighs which elements a chart has too much or too little of; see what BaZi is for how that works. They also add a layer to Chinese zodiac compatibility.
The sixty-year cycle
Two counters run side by side through the Chinese calendar: the ten heavenly stems (five elements, each in a yang and a yin form) and the twelve earthly branches (the animals). Both move forward one step each year. Because yang stems only ever meet yang branches, and yin stems yin branches, the pair takes sixty years to come back to where it started.
The cycle opens with Jia Zi, the Wood Rat. The last one began in 1984, and the next is due in 2044. Along the way every animal meets every element of its own polarity once: a Metal Horse in 1990, a Water Horse in 2002, a Wood Horse in 2014, a Fire Horse in 2026, and an Earth Horse in 2038. Sixty is also why a sixtieth birthday is a milestone in many Chinese families: it's the first time your birth year's exact stem and branch come back.
The year's element and the animal's own element
Each animal also has a fixed element that never changes, tied to its season. The Tiger and Rabbit are Wood (spring), the Snake and Horse are Fire (summer), the Monkey and Rooster are Metal (autumn), and the Pig and Rat are Water (winter). The Ox, Dragon, Goat and Dog are Earth, the element of the transition months between the seasons.
When a year's element matches the animal's own, the effect is read as doubled. The Horse is a Fire animal, so a Fire Horse year is fire on fire, which is part of why 1966 and 2026 attract so much attention; our piece on the Fire Horse year meaning tells that story. The following year, 2027, is a yin Fire year with an Earth animal, so Fire feeds Earth: see the Year of the Goat 2027.
Five phases, not four elements
The Chinese term is wuxing, literally five movements or five phases, and many scholars prefer "phases" or "agents" because the idea is about change, not substances. It was developed in the Warring States period, notably by the thinker Zou Yan in the third century BCE, and systematized under the Han dynasty.
It isn't the Western system with an extra entry. Western astrology uses four elements, fire, earth, air and water, and has no Wood or Metal; Chinese thought has no Air. If you know your Western sign's element, our guide to zodiac elements and modalities explains that separate tradition.
Questions readers ask
What element am I if I was born in 1990?
Metal, so a Metal Horse, if you were born on or after January 27, 1990, when that Chinese year began. If you were born between January 1 and January 26, 1990, you belong to 1989 and are an Earth Snake.
What element are 2026 and 2027?
Both are Fire. 2026 is a yang Fire year, the Fire Horse, from February 17, 2026. 2027 is a yin Fire year, the Fire Goat, from February 6, 2027.
What is the rarest Chinese zodiac element?
There isn't one. Each element covers two years in every ten, so they come round equally often. The only unevenness comes from January and February birthdays, which fall in the previous year.
Which Chinese elements are compatible?
In popular readings, pairs that sit next to each other in the generating cycle, such as Wood and Fire or Metal and Water, are the most supportive. Pairs in the controlling cycle, such as Fire and Metal, are read as more challenging, though a little friction can also be balancing.
