Year of the Rat
Traditionally associated with alertness, adaptability, and finding a way through constrained circumstances.
- Earthly Branch
- 子 · zǐ
- Sequence position
- 1 of 12
- Traditional association
- The Rat opens the twelve-year sequence. Modern personality summaries often call it resourceful; that is a cultural association, not a measured trait.
Cycle years
- 1924
- 1936
- 1948
- 1960
- 1972
- 1984
- 1996
- 2008
- 2020
- 2032
These labels name the lunisolar year that begins during the listed Gregorian year. January and early-February births may belong to the preceding animal.
What this does—and does not—tell you
The annual animal is one calendar layer. A fuller Chinese astrology reading may also consider the Heavenly Stem and element, month, day, and hour. A year animal alone cannot determine a personality or predict an outcome.
All twelve animal years
Read how Western tropical zodiac dates work · Calculate a Western tropical birth chart