The Rabbit is the fourth of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. Recent Rabbit years are 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 and 2023, and the next begins on February 8, 2035. Each starts on Lunar New Year, not on January 1, so January and February birthdays need checking. People born under the sign are traditionally said to be gentle, kind and diplomatic.
What years are Rabbit years?
One year in every 12 belongs to the Rabbit. Below are the first and last day of each Rabbit year, and the element it carries.
| Rabbit year | First day | Last day | Element |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | February 2, 1927 | January 22, 1928 | Fire |
| 1939 | February 19, 1939 | February 7, 1940 | Earth |
| 1951 | February 6, 1951 | January 26, 1952 | Metal |
| 1963 | January 25, 1963 | February 12, 1964 | Water |
| 1975 | February 11, 1975 | January 30, 1976 | Wood |
| 1987 | January 29, 1987 | February 16, 1988 | Fire |
| 1999 | February 16, 1999 | February 4, 2000 | Earth |
| 2011 | February 3, 2011 | January 22, 2012 | Metal |
| 2023 | January 22, 2023 | February 9, 2024 | Water |
| 2035 | February 8, 2035 | January 27, 2036 | Wood |
Were you born in January or February?
If so, the year on your birth certificate is not enough. Lunar New Year falls somewhere between January 21 and February 20, and the animal changes on that day.
- Born on January 15, 2023? The Rabbit year began a week later, on January 22. You are a Tiger.
- Born on February 1, 2024? You are a Rabbit. Most 2024 babies are Dragons, but the Rabbit year ran until February 9.
- Born on February 10, 1999? A Tiger. The Rabbit year of 1999 did not start until February 16.
To check a date, enter it below. The tool gives the animal and the element for the exact day, and it can also be found on the Birthday Profile page.
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What is the Rabbit's personality said to be?
After the Tiger, the zodiac changes key. The Rabbit is its quiet sign: people born in a Rabbit year are traditionally said to be gentle, kind and diplomatic. National Museums Liverpool describes the sign as talented and articulate, affectionate yet shy, and always in search of peace. Its guide adds that the Rabbit has a reputation as the most fortunate of the 12 signs, which is a nice thing to be told and no more than that.
Traits commonly attached to the sign:
- Said to be strengths: tact, good manners, patience, a gift for smoothing things over.
- Said to be weaknesses: caution that tips into timidity, a dislike of conflict, a tendency to worry.
The rabbit of Chinese folklore lives on the moon. As the Victoria and Albert Museum explains, legend has a rabbit there pounding the elixir of immortality, in the company of the moon goddess Chang'e. The same Jade Rabbit is a familiar figure in the stories told at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
A word on how far to take the personality sketch. The museum also notes that reading character from a birth year is a fairly recent development, absent from old Chinese texts. One person in 12 is a Rabbit, and they do not share a temperament.
What are the five types of Rabbit?
The traditional calendar gives each year an element as well as an animal. There are five: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. They belong to a cycle of ten "heavenly stems" that runs beside the 12 animals, so a pairing such as Wood and Rabbit comes up only once every 60 years.
Rabbit years end in an odd number, and that digit gives the element.
| Type | Years | Year ends in | The element is traditionally linked with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Rabbit | 1927, 1987 | 7 | Passion, energy and leadership |
| Earth Rabbit | 1939, 1999 | 9 | Stability, patience and practicality |
| Metal Rabbit | 1951, 2011 | 1 | Determination, discipline and strength |
| Water Rabbit | 1963, 2023 | 3 | Flexibility, intuition and communication |
| Wood Rabbit | 1975, 2035 | 5 | Growth, generosity and cooperation |
By tradition the element adjusts the animal's character. A Fire Rabbit is described as a livelier, more outgoing Rabbit, and a Metal Rabbit as a firmer one. This belongs to the same folklore as the traits.
How did the Rabbit cross the river in the Great Race?
With quick feet and some luck. In the legend, the Jade Emperor set a race across a river to decide the order of the years. The Rabbit could not swim the current, so it hopped from rock to rock, and when the rocks ran out it clung to a drifting log. In one popular telling, the Dragon, flying overhead, sent a puff of wind that carried the log to the bank. The Rabbit finished fourth, just ahead of its helper.
It is a folktale, and versions differ. The full story is on our page about Chinese New Year animals.
Behind the animals is a set of 12 counters called the "earthly branches." The Rabbit's is the fourth, written 卯 (mao); the animal is 兔 (tu). The branch also names the hours from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and the direction east. Some scholars translate the sign as the Hare.
What does a Rabbit year mean if you are a Rabbit?
Babies born from February 8, 2035 to January 27, 2036 will be Wood Rabbits. Everyone born in an earlier Rabbit year meets their own sign again that year, at 12, 24, 36, 48 or 60. For those born in the Wood Rabbit year of 1975 it marks a full 60-year cycle: the same animal and the same element as at birth.
Tradition is wary of this return. A person's own zodiac year, the ben ming nian, is commonly regarded as a hurdle and not as a lucky year, and wearing red is the custom that goes with it. It is a folk belief, not a prediction.
Which signs is the Rabbit said to get along with?
In the traditional scheme, the Rabbit forms a group of three with the Goat and the Pig, and is paired with the Dog. Its opposite, six places away in the cycle, is the Rooster. How these sets are built, and why they should be read as folklore, is explained in our guide to Chinese zodiac compatibility.
The Rabbit follows the Tiger and comes before the Dragon. The year that begins on February 6, 2027 belongs to one of its traditional allies: see Year of the Goat 2027.