Chinese Zodiac Compatibility

Chinese zodiac compatibility is a traditional scheme that sorts the 12 animals into allies and opposites according to where they sit in the cycle. Signs four years apart form groups of three that are considered harmonious, six special pairs are counted as close, and signs six years apart are opposites. It is folklore about the calendar, not a guide to real relationships.

Where does the idea come from?

The 12 animals are labels for an older counting system, the 12 "earthly branches" that number years, months and hours in the traditional Chinese calendar. Over the centuries, fortune-tellers worked out sets of relationships between the branches: some combine, some oppose. Because each branch has an animal, those relationships came to be told as stories about animals that get along or do not.

The Lam Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University notes that the zodiac came to be used for fortune-telling and, in the past, for decisions about marriage. That history is why compatibility charts exist. It is not a reason to use them that way now.

What are the three traditional relationships?

Groups of three. Arrange the 12 animals around a clock face. Any three that sit four places apart form a triangle. There are four such triangles, and the signs within each are traditionally considered natural allies.

The six pairs. A second pattern links the signs two by two. These pairs are sometimes called "secret friends."

Rat and Ox · Tiger and Pig · Rabbit and Dog · Dragon and Rooster · Snake and Monkey · Horse and Goat

The six opposites. Signs directly across the clock face from each other, six years apart, are traditionally considered to be at odds.

Rat and Horse · Ox and Goat · Tiger and Monkey · Rabbit and Rooster · Dragon and Dog · Snake and Pig

The chart for all 12 signs

Any combination not in the table is simply neutral in this scheme. Professional fortune-tellers add further layers, and they work from the full date and hour of birth, not the year alone, so popular charts differ in their details.

How do you find the two signs?

You need the birth year of each person, and the exact date for anyone born in January or February, because the zodiac year begins on Lunar New Year. A person born on January 20, 1992, for example, is a Goat and not a Monkey. Enter a birthday below to see the animal and the element; the tool is also on the Birthday Profile page.

Which signs is the Goat traditionally matched with?

The Goat, also called the Sheep or Ram, is the sign of the year that runs from February 6, 2027 to January 25, 2028.

• Rabbit and Pig. With the Goat, these make up the fourth group of three, so tradition counts them as the Goat's allies.
• Horse. The Horse is the Goat's paired sign. The two sit side by side in the cycle, and 2027 follows directly on the Horse year of 2026.
• Ox. The Ox is the Goat's opposite, six places away in the cycle, and the two are traditionally considered to be at odds.

It follows from the arithmetic that a Goat's traditional allies are four or eight years older or younger, the paired sign is one year apart, and the opposite is six years apart. That is all the scheme really encodes: age gaps.

Goat years, traits and the five element types are covered in our guide to the Goat in the Chinese zodiac.

What does this mean for real relationships?

Nothing that you can rely on. There is no evidence that the year a person was born shapes how well they get along with someone born in another year, and millions of happy couples, friends and colleagues sit on the "opposite" side of the chart.

A few sensible ways to use it:

• As a conversation starter. Comparing signs at a new year dinner is a tradition in itself.
• As a window on the calendar. The groups and pairs show how the 12-year cycle is put together.
• For fun. Read it the way you would read a newspaper horoscope.

And one way not to use it: as a reason to choose, doubt or rule out a partner, a friend or anyone else. People are not their birth years.

Is it the same as Western zodiac compatibility?

No. The two systems are unrelated. The Western zodiac assigns a sign by the month and day of birth, the Chinese zodiac by the year. Someone can be a Leo and a Goat at once, and the two traditions describe them in quite different terms. If you want to compare star signs instead, try our zodiac compatibility tool.

For the full list of animals and the legend behind their order, see Chinese New Year animals. For the year ahead, see Year of the Goat 2027.