Heavenly stems + earthly branches

How to Read Gan-Zhi

Gan-Zhi (干支) is the complete two-character name of a zodiac year. The first character is a heavenly stem; the second is an earthly branch. Together they identify the year's polarity, element, and animal.

A worked result from the site

Ding You 丁酉, step by step

The 2017 result reads Ding You 丁酉. It is not an extra prediction: it is the traditional coordinate from which “Yin Fire Rooster” is read.

1 · stem丁

Ding

The fourth heavenly stem: Yin Fire.

2 · branch酉

You

The Rooster branch. It keeps fixed Metal.

complete year name丁酉

Yin Fire Rooster

Open the exact 2017 year record

The first character

The ten heavenly stems

Each of the five elements has a Yang stem followed by a Yin stem. This ten-position sequence supplies the year-stem element shown by the calculator. Yang and Yin are alternating, complementary polarities here—not good and bad labels.

Read them as element pairs

Wood occupies the first two positions, followed by Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Within each pair, the Yang stem comes first and the Yin stem second.

See how the five elements repeat →

The stem is the changing layer

An animal branch returns every twelve years, but its year stem changes. That is why two Horse years can carry different complete names such as Wood Horse or Fire Horse.

Compare year and fixed elements →

01甲JiaYang Wood
02乙YiYin Wood
03丙BingYang Fire
04丁DingYin Fire
05戊WuYang Earth
06己JiYin Earth
07庚GengYang Metal
08辛XinYin Metal
09壬RenYang Water
10癸GuiYin Water

The second character

The twelve earthly branches

The branch fixes the animal, its Yin or Yang position, and its own element. That fixed branch element is separate from the element carried by the year stem.

The animal is the readable face

Rat through Pig are the familiar names for the twelve branch positions. A sign guide keeps the animal, branch character, season, fixed element, and recurring years together.

Open the twelve branch guides →

Fixed does not mean “the whole result”

The branch keeps its own element when the year stem changes. Read both coordinates: one describes the repeating branch; the other describes this particular year in the cycle.

See both in a birth-date result →

Ten and twelve meet in sequence

The complete sixty-year cycle

A stem and branch advance together. Because both sequences alternate Yang and Yin, only sixty valid pairings occur before Jia Zi 甲子 returns.

Advance together

Move one stem and one branch at a time. Their Yang and Yin positions alternate together, so the two characters remain a valid pair.

Notice the two return rhythms

The animal branch repeats after twelve years. The exact stem-and-branch name does not return until both sequences meet at their starting point after sixty.

Treat the name as a coordinate

A Gan-Zhi pair identifies a position in the calendar cycle. It is not a score or a verdict; the linked year and sign pages supply the context.

The same notation appears elsewhere

Day pillar, day master, and Na Yin

日柱

Day pillar

A date also has a two-character Gan-Zhi pair. The calculator shows it separately from the birth year.

See it in a complete result →

日主

Day master

The heavenly stem—the first character—of that day pillar. Its polarity and element belong to the day coordinate.

Compare the element coordinates →

纳音

Na Yin

A separate named association shared by two adjacent Gan-Zhi pairs. It does not replace the year-stem or fixed branch element.

See why Na Yin stays separate →