Chinese Zodiac (Eto) Lookup
Enter a birth year to instantly find its Chinese zodiac animal — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog or Boar. Handy for New Year cards or age-guessing quizzes.
The 12 zodiac animals and their most recent years
| Order | Zodiac animal | Most recent year | Next occurrence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rat (子, ne) | 2020 | 2032 |
| 2 | Ox (丑, ushi) | 2021 | 2033 |
| 3 | Tiger (寅, tora) | 2022 | 2034 |
| 4 | Rabbit (卯, u) | 2023 | 2035 |
| 5 | Dragon (辰, tatsu) | 2024 | 2036 |
| 6 | Snake (巳, mi) | 2025 | 2037 |
| 7 | Horse (午, uma) | 2026 This Year | 2038 |
| 8 | Goat (未, hitsuji) | 2015 | 2027 |
| 9 | Monkey (申, saru) | 2016 | 2028 |
| 10 | Rooster (酉, tori) | 2017 | 2029 |
| 11 | Dog (戌, inu) | 2018 | 2030 |
| 12 | Boar (亥, i) | 2019 | 2031 |
Tips for looking up your Chinese zodiac animal
- The zodiac cycle repeats every 12 years, so adding or subtracting 12 from a birth year instantly tells you other years that share the same animal.
- If you're stuck choosing a New Year card design, check next year's zodiac animal first, then search for illustrations of that animal.
- It's a great conversation starter — asking "what year (animal) were you born in?" is a common icebreaker in East Asian culture.
- The 12 zodiac signs were historically also used to name hours and directions (like the "Hour of the Ox"), so they're tied to more than just the calendar.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — the origin of the 12 zodiac animals
The 12 zodiac signs are believed to originate from an ancient Chinese astronomical numbering system tied to Jupiter's roughly 12-year orbit around the celestial sphere, with 12 symbols assigned to track its position year by year. The system reached Japan around the 6th century and was later paired with animals, becoming widely beloved folk knowledge.
Many legends explain the order of the animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, boar). A famous folk tale says the gods invited all animals to greet them on New Year's morning; the slow ox set off early, but the rat riding on its back leapt off first and crossed the finish line ahead — explaining why the rat comes first and the ox second.
The 12 signs were assigned not only to years but also to months, days, hours and directions. Until the Edo period, hours were expressed using zodiac terms (like the eerie "third quarter of the Ox hour," around 2 a.m.), and directions such as northeast (associated with the "ox-tiger" gate) were described the same way — the system was woven into nearly every part of daily life.