3 September 2026

12 Chinese Zodiac Signs

tǔ · 土 · one of the Five Phases

Earth in the Chinese Zodiac

Earth receives from Fire in the generating cycle. It feeds Metal, regulates Water, and appears in zodiac year names through the Wu and Ji heavenly stems.

土

One element, several result coordinates

Earth at a glance

In a complete zodiac result, Earth may belong to the year's heavenly stem, the animal's fixed earthly-branch coordinate, the day master, or the separate Na Yin association. The label should always be read with that position.

Chinese
土
Pinyin
tǔ
Generates
Metal
Controls
Water

Its place in both cycles

How Earth moves

Generating and controlling are directional relationships. Neither one is a compatibility score by itself.

The year-name coordinate

The two Earth heavenly stems

A year-stem element always has a Yin or Yang form. These are the two stems that make Earth appear in a complete year name.

A separate branch coordinate

Animals with fixed Earth

These animal branches carry Earth in every occurrence. Their year-stem element still changes through all five phases.

Ox丑Winter · NNEDragon辰Spring · ESEGoat未Summer · SSWDog戌Autumn · WNW

The element across all twelve animals

Every Earth animal year type

The stem element repeats for two consecutive years, then moves on. Across sixty years, Earth meets every animal exactly once.

  1. 戊子Earth RatYang · Wu Zi
  2. 己丑Earth OxYin · Ji Chou
  3. 戊寅Earth TigerYang · Wu Yin
  4. 己卯Earth RabbitYin · Ji Mao
  5. 戊辰Earth DragonYang · Wu Chen
  6. 己巳Earth SnakeYin · Ji Si
  7. 戊午Earth HorseYang · Wu Wu
  8. 己未Earth GoatYin · Ji Wei
  9. 戊申Earth MonkeyYang · Wu Shen
  10. 己酉Earth RoosterYin · Ji You
  11. 戊戌Earth DogYang · Wu Xu
  12. 己亥Earth PigYin · Ji Hai

Exact calendar records

Recent and upcoming Earth years

Each year opens at Chinese New Year, not 1 January.