Goat Chinese Zodiac Compatibility
Tradition: Chinese zodiac. A tradition, not a forecast. The Chinese zodiac reads it this way; the evidence does not.
By Suraj Giri · Updated · Reviewer for this method: not yet appointed (see our editorial policy)
In the Chinese zodiac, the Goat matches best with the Rabbit and the Pig, its two trine partners, and with the Horse, its secret friend; its most difficult match is the Ox, the animal opposite it on the twelve-year cycle.
The Goat is the eighth animal of the twelve-year cycle, and this page reads it against all twelve, the Goat included, by the tradition's three relations: trine, secret friend and clash. To pair the Goat with any other animal, check two Chinese zodiac animals on the hub. The table below answers every pairing, and the sections explain the relation behind each row.
Which years are Goat years?
Goat years start at the lunar new year, not on 1 January. The Chinese year turns on a date between 21 January and 20 February that moves every year, so a birthday in January or early February can belong to the animal before the Goat. Not sure you are a Goat? Use the birth-year lookup, which shows the date each year begins. Some references print Sheep for the Goat; the animal and its years are the same.
Who is the Goat's best match?
Best match. The tradition's easiest matches for the Goat are the Rabbit and the Pig: the Rabbit, Goat and Pig trine, animals four years apart. The secret friend, the Horse, makes one of the six harmony pairs with it.
Worst match. Goat and Ox is one of the six clash pairs: the two animals sit opposite each other, six years apart. A clash is the tradition's reading of two birth years, not a fact about two people.
The Goat's two easiest matches share its trine, one of four groups of three animals the tradition calls San He. Inside a trine nobody is ranked, so neither partner comes first. Readers who ask for the Goat's "soulmate" get the same answer here, because the tradition names no single soulmate: it names two trine partners and a secret friend.
Who is the Goat's secret friend?
The Goat's secret friend is the Horse, the animal right before it on the cycle: together they make one of the six harmony pairs the tradition calls secret friends. Liu He, the Chinese name for the six pairs, is a fixed list rather than a spacing rule, because the pairs sit at different distances on the cycle. The site's ladder puts a secret friend one step below a trine.
Who is the Goat not compatible with?
The Ox is the Goat's clash, the animal directly opposite it on the twelve-year cycle and six years away, which the tradition reads as its most difficult match. Liu Chong, the Chinese name for the six opposite pairs, is the only negative relation this page reads, so this is the one difficult animal it names for the Goat. The tradition rates that pairing; it does not rule it out.
How compatible is the Goat with each animal?
The table groups the Goat's eleven partners by relation, best first and the clash last, with the neutral rows in between. A neutral row means the tradition names no relation for that pair, which is neither praise nor a caution. Every relation in it matches the lists on Wikipedia's Chinese zodiac article and on yourchineseastrology.com; the two sources agree on all of them. None of the Goat's pairings has a page of its own, so this table is the full reading for every one of them.
| Pair | Relation | What the tradition reads | Steps apart on the cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goat and Rabbit | trine | one of the four trine groups, which the tradition reads as the easiest match | 4 |
| Goat and Pig | trine | one of the four trine groups, which the tradition reads as the easiest match | 4 |
| Goat and Horse | secret friend | one of the six harmony pairs | 1 |
| Goat and Rat | neutral | no named relation | 5 |
| Goat and Tiger | neutral | no named relation | 5 |
| Goat and Dragon | neutral | no named relation | 3 |
| Goat and Snake | neutral | no named relation | 2 |
| Goat and Monkey | neutral | no named relation | 1 |
| Goat and Rooster | neutral | no named relation | 2 |
| Goat and Dog | neutral | no named relation | 3 |
| Goat and Ox | clash | one of the six clash pairs | 6 |
The same animal: Goat and Goat reads as same animal. Order: trine, secret friend, neutral, clash, and within each relation the cycle order counted from the Rat. Neutral means none of the three relations this site reads applies; the tradition's harms and punishments are outside this chart.
Is Goat and Goat a good match?
A same-animal pair is its own relation on this page. The one reference that rules on doubled animals, yourchineseastrology.com, reads most of them as compatible, and the Goat is one of those. Two people are both Goats when their Chinese birth years match or sit a multiple of twelve apart.
Who should a Goat marry?
The Goat's best matches for marriage are the same as for love: the Rabbit, the Pig and the Horse, and the tradition forbids no pairing. Gender is not an input, so a Goat woman and a Goat man get the same answer. Chinese astrology also gives each year an element, which this reading does not use. The tradition names the easiest pairings and leaves the decision with the two people.
Which animals are the Goat's best friends?
Friendship reads the same relations as love. Secret friend is the tradition's own name for one of them, and the two trine partners read as easy company too. One chart covers love, marriage and friendship on this page, so any single friendship is a row in the table above.
Why do other charts list different matches for the Goat?
For the Goat, most charts agree with this page on the named relations: the same best matches and the same clash. This page reads three relations and no more. Longer lists usually come from the tradition's harms and punishments, or from personality sketches, and this reading uses neither. That is why a pairing shown here as neutral can carry a harsher label on a fuller chart.
To check the Goat against any one animal, pick both on the hub; the chart in the strip at the top shows all twelve against each other.
How we calculate it
- The birth year gives an animal, counted from the lunar new year rather than 1 January, so a birthday in January or early February may belong to the previous year's animal. The tool says so and offers both.
- The twelve animals sit in four trines of three, which the tradition reads as the easiest matches.
- Six harmony pairs, the secret friends, are read as good, and the six pairs opposite each other on the cycle are read as difficult.
- The verdict is the strongest of those readings that applies to the two animals, and neutral when none does.
The full rule, in plain words and in pseudocode, is on the methodology page.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Chinese zodiac: The San He, Liu He and Liu Chong lists, and the years table
- Your Chinese Astrology, Chinese Zodiac Compatibility: The three relation lists, and the self-punishment reading