1984: Year of the Wood Rat
The 1984 Chinese zodiac year is the Yang Wood Rat, and it runs from 2 February 1984 to 19 February 1985 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Rat 鼠
- Element and polarity
- Yang Wood
- Gan-Zhi
- Jia Zi 甲子
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 1984, a person turns 42 during the 2026 year
Born early in 1984? You may be Pig, not Rat
Chinese New Year 1984 fell on 2 February 1984. Anyone born between 1 January 1984 and 1 February 1984 — a window of 32 days — belongs to the 1983 zodiac year, the Yin Water Pig, and not to the Rat.
Check an exact birth date against the 2 February 1984 boundary.
Exact 1984 zodiac year dates
The 1984 lunar year carried a leap month, stretching it to 384 days — which is why the following Chinese New Year falls comparatively late.
Other Rat years around 1984
| Rat year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Yang Earth Rat | 10 February 1948 |
| 1960 | Yang Metal Rat | 28 January 1960 |
| 1972 | Yang Water Rat | 15 February 1972 |
| 1996 | Yang Fire Rat | 19 February 1996 |
| 2008 | Yang Earth Rat | 7 February 2008 |
| 2020 | Yang Metal Rat | 25 January 2020 |
The exact pairing 甲子 — Yang Wood Rat — returns only once every sixty years: 1924, 2044.