Chinese Zodiac & Stem-Branch
LookupsEverything runs locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded
Enter a year to get its zodiac animal and its stem-branch pair (1990 is the year of the Horse); enter an animal to get the nearby years instead. The stem-branch cycle combines ten heavenly stems with twelve earthly branches into a 60-year round, and the zodiac animals are simply the branches — so the two results can never disagree, and both are shown together. One thing is easy to miss: the zodiac follows the lunar year, which begins between late January and late February. Someone born on 20 January 1990 is a Snake, not a Horse, because that year's Spring Festival fell on 27 January. The result always carries that reminder.
Features
- Zodiac for any year, BC or AD
- Stem-branch pair as well, such as Metal Horse or Wood Rat
- Reverse lookup by animal name, in English, Chinese or Japanese
- All twelve sit in one searchable dropdown with their branch and recent years — no need to know a year first
- Lists 3, 5 or 8 years either side for the same animal
- Shows the position within the twelve-animal cycle
- Always notes the lunar-year boundary — the one that catches January birthdays
How to use
- Enter a year (1990) or an animal name (Dragon), or pick one from the dropdown
- Animal, stem-branch, position and nearby years appear together
- Raise the "years either side" option for a longer list
- Copy any single line with its own button
FAQ
- Why do January birthdays need special care?
- Because the zodiac follows the lunar year, and the lunar new year (Spring Festival) falls between 21 January and 20 February. Anyone born before it belongs to the previous animal. In 1990 the Spring Festival was 27 January, so someone born on the 20th is a Snake while someone born on the 28th is a Horse. A year lookup gives the animal for most of that year; to be precise about a birthday you need that year's Spring Festival date.
- What is the stem-branch system?
- Ten heavenly stems paired with twelve earthly branches produce sixty combinations — the sixty-year cycle. So the stem-branch cycle is 60 years, five times longer than the zodiac's 12. 1984 began the most recent round.
- Are the zodiac animal and the earthly branch different things?
- They are two names for the same thing: each branch maps to an animal (the first branch is the rat, the second the ox, the third the tiger, and so on). A Horse year and a Rat year always match their branches, whichever name you use.
- Does it handle BC years?
- Yes. Enter a negative number (−221) or the form 221 BC. Both cycles are periodic, so extending backwards is exact.
Related tools
Chinese Dynasties
LookupsLook up which dynasty ruled in a given year, or a dynasty's dates, capital and founder. Contemporary states are listed, not hidden.
Date Calculator
ConvertCount the days, weeks or months between two dates, or shift a date by any of those. Dates can be picked from a calendar or pasted in — nothing is uploaded.
Paper Sizes
LookupsA4 and A5 sizes in pixels at 72, 150 and 300 DPI, plus the full ISO A, B and C chart and North American paper sizes in mm, cm and inches.
Periodic Table
LookupsLook up any element's atomic number, names, atomic weight, category, period, group and electron configuration — or list a whole period or category at once.
Blood Type Inheritance
LookupsPick both parents' blood types to see which types a child can and cannot have, with genotypes and percentages, from a single ABO allele pair.
Size Chart
LookupsClothing, shoe, crochet hook and bra sizes in one chart: enter a size, a foot length, or a bust and underbust, and see every system plus one size up.