2023: Year of the Water Rabbit
The 2023 Chinese zodiac year is the Yin Water Rabbit, and it runs from 22 January 2023 to 9 February 2024 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Rabbit 兔
- Element and polarity
- Yin Water
- Gan-Zhi
- Gui Mao 癸卯
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 2023, a person turns 3 during the 2026 year
Born early in 2023? You may be Tiger, not Rabbit
Chinese New Year 2023 fell on 22 January 2023. Anyone born between 1 January 2023 and 21 January 2023 — a window of 21 days — belongs to the 2022 zodiac year, the Yang Water Tiger, and not to the Rabbit.
Check an exact birth date against the 22 January 2023 boundary.
Exact 2023 zodiac year dates
The 2023 lunar year carried a leap month, stretching it to 384 days — which is why the following Chinese New Year falls comparatively late.
Other Rabbit years around 2023
| Rabbit year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Yin Fire Rabbit | 29 January 1987 |
| 1999 | Yin Earth Rabbit | 16 February 1999 |
| 2011 | Yin Metal Rabbit | 3 February 2011 |
| 2035 | Yin Wood Rabbit | 8 February 2035 |
| 2047 | Yin Fire Rabbit | 26 January 2047 |
| 2059 | Yin Earth Rabbit | 12 February 2059 |
The exact pairing 癸卯 — Yin Water Rabbit — returns only once every sixty years: 1903, 1963, 2083.