Chinese Zodiac Compatibility

What is Chinese zodiac compatibility?

Chinese zodiac compatibility reads two people by the animal of the year each was born in, and sorts every pairing into a small number of named relations. The twelve animals run in a fixed cycle, so two people twelve years apart share an animal and two people six years apart sit opposite each other. It is one tradition's route to love compatibility, alongside the sun-sign one this site also runs.

How do you check Chinese zodiac compatibility?

To check your compatibility, pick two animals in the selector above, or switch it to two birth dates if you are not sure which animals they are. It takes four steps:

1. Choose the mode, by animal or by birth date.
2. Enter your animal, or your birth date.
3. Enter theirs.
4. Read the verdict, which names the relation and links the pair page once that page is live.

The calculator is free, it runs in your browser, and the order of the two animals changes nothing, because every relation in this system is mutual.

What is your Chinese zodiac animal by birth year?

Your animal comes from the year you were born, but the Chinese year does not start on 1 January. It starts at the lunar new year, which falls between 21 January and 20 February and moves every year. A birthday in January or early February may therefore belong to the previous year's animal. The selector above checks the exact date for you.

The whole table, with the exact lunar new year date for every year from 1924 to 2031, is on the birth-year page in the strip at the top.

How do trines, harmonies and clashes decide Chinese zodiac compatibility?

Three lists decide the verdict, and a pairing is read as whichever of them it appears in. Trines are groups of three animals four years apart, secret friends are six pairs, and clashes are six pairs of opposites. A pairing in none of the three is neutral, and two of the same animal is read as compatible in most cases. One specialist reference reads a doubled Dragon, Horse, Rooster or Pig as a clash instead, and that is the only reference we have found for it.

No pairing can appear in two of the three lists at once, so the order they are checked in never changes a verdict, and the engine's own test file asserts it. Here are the three, best first.

What Chinese signs go well together?

The four trines are the tradition's easiest matches:

• Rat, Dragon, Monkey
• Ox, Snake, Rooster
• Tiger, Horse, Dog
• Rabbit, Goat, Pig

The members of a trine sit four years apart, which is why people notice it between a couple four, eight or twelve years apart in age. The Chinese name for the group is San He, the three harmonies.

Which Chinese zodiac animals are secret friends?

Every animal has exactly one secret friend, and the six pairs are Rat and Ox; Tiger and Pig; Rabbit and Dog; Dragon and Rooster; Snake and Monkey; Horse and Goat. The tradition reads a secret friend pair as a quiet, steady match, below a trine and well above neutral. The Chinese name is Liu He, the six harmonies. These six pairs are not a fixed number of years apart, unlike the trines and the clashes.

Which Chinese zodiac signs are incompatible with each other?

The six clash pairs are the animals directly opposite each other on the twelve-year cycle, six years apart: Rat and Horse; Ox and Goat; Tiger and Monkey; Rabbit and Rooster; Dragon and Dog; Snake and Pig. The tradition reads a clash as the hardest of the named relations, and its Chinese name is Liu Chong. It also keeps two further negative relations, harms (Liu Hai) and punishments (Xiang Xing), which this site's verdict does not use. A pairing the selector calls neutral can still carry a finer reading elsewhere.

What does the Chinese zodiac compatibility chart show?

The Chinese zodiac compatibility chart shows all twelve animals against all twelve at once, so you can read any pairing without picking two. Find your animal down the side and theirs along the top.

The same grid with a one-word verdict for every one of the 78 unique pairings has a page of its own, in the strip at the top.

What are the 12 Chinese zodiac animals?

Twelve animals run in a fixed order, Rat first, and each one has a page of its own here.

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

Some references print Sheep where this site prints Goat, and they are the same animal.

Is Chinese astrology compatibility the same as Chinese zodiac compatibility?

Near enough. Chinese astrology is the wider field, and it includes readings this site does not run, such as the elements of the year and the four pillars. Chinese zodiac compatibility is the animal comparison this page does. People search for the same thing as Chinese astrology compatibility, Chinese horoscope compatibility, a Chinese zodiac love match and a Chinese zodiac compatibility calculator, and the selector answers all of them.

Is animal compatibility the same as Chinese zodiac compatibility?

Yes. Animal compatibility is the same reading under a shorter name, and the animal is always a birth-year animal. It has nothing to do with pets.

Is Chinese zodiac compatibility the same as Western zodiac compatibility?

No. The Chinese zodiac reads the year you were born and gives twelve animals; the Western zodiac reads the month and gives twelve signs, which is what astrology compatibility means on the rest of this site. They are separate traditions with separate rules, and nothing here mixes a sign with an animal.

One question the year page answers

Is the Chinese zodiac by birth year or lunar year?

The lunar year. The Chinese year turns at the lunar new year, between 21 January and 20 February, and the birth-year page carries that date for every year from 1924 to 2031.