3 September 2026

12 Chinese Zodiac Signs

mù · 木 · one of the Five Phases

Wood in the Chinese Zodiac

Wood feeds Fire and regulates Earth in the two Five Phases cycles. It appears in zodiac year names through the Jia and Yi heavenly stems.

木

One element, several result coordinates

Wood at a glance

In a complete zodiac result, Wood 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
木
Pinyin
mù
Generates
Fire
Controls
Earth

Its place in both cycles

How Wood moves

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

The year-name coordinate

The two Wood heavenly stems

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

A separate branch coordinate

Animals with fixed Wood

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

Tiger寅Spring · ENERabbit卯Spring · E

The element across all twelve animals

Every Wood animal year type

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

  1. 甲子Wood RatYang · Jia Zi
  2. 乙丑Wood OxYin · Yi Chou
  3. 甲寅Wood TigerYang · Jia Yin
  4. 乙卯Wood RabbitYin · Yi Mao
  5. 甲辰Wood DragonYang · Jia Chen
  6. 乙巳Wood SnakeYin · Yi Si
  7. 甲午Wood HorseYang · Jia Wu
  8. 乙未Wood GoatYin · Yi Wei
  9. 甲申Wood MonkeyYang · Jia Shen
  10. 乙酉Wood RoosterYin · Yi You
  11. 甲戌Wood DogYang · Jia Xu
  12. 乙亥Wood PigYin · Yi Hai

Exact calendar records

Recent and upcoming Wood years

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