Ox 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 Ox matches best with the Snake and the Rooster, its two trine partners, and with the Rat, its secret friend; its most difficult match is the Goat, the animal opposite it on the twelve-year cycle.
The Ox is the second animal of the twelve-year cycle, and this page reads it against all twelve, the Ox included, by the tradition's three relations: trine, secret friend and clash. To pair the Ox with any other animal, use the Chinese zodiac compatibility calculator. The table below holds every pairing, and the sections explain why each one sits where it does.
Which years are Ox years?
Ox 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 Ox. Not sure you are an Ox? The page on which animal is your birth year lists the date each year begins.
Who is the Ox's best match?
Best match. The tradition's easiest matches for the Ox are the Snake and the Rooster: the Ox, Snake and Rooster trine, animals four years apart. The secret friend, the Rat, makes one of the six harmony pairs with it.
Worst match. Ox and Goat 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 Ox'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 Ox'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 Ox's secret friend?
The Ox's secret friend is the Rat, the animal just before it at the start of 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 Ox not compatible with?
The Goat is the Ox'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 Ox. The tradition rates that pairing; it does not rule it out.
How compatible is the Ox with each animal?
The table groups the Ox'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. One Ox pairing has a page of its own, and its row in the table links to it once that page is live.
| Pair | Relation | What the tradition reads | Steps apart on the cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ox and Snake | trine | one of the four trine groups, which the tradition reads as the easiest match | 4 |
| Ox and Rooster | trine | one of the four trine groups, which the tradition reads as the easiest match | 4 |
| Ox and Rat | secret friend | one of the six harmony pairs | 1 |
| Ox and Tiger | neutral | no named relation | 1 |
| Ox and Rabbit | neutral | no named relation | 2 |
| Ox and Dragon | neutral | no named relation | 3 |
| Ox and Horse | neutral | no named relation | 5 |
| Ox and Monkey | neutral | no named relation | 5 |
| Ox and Dog | neutral | no named relation | 3 |
| Ox and Pig | neutral | no named relation | 2 |
| Ox and Goat | clash | one of the six clash pairs | 6 |
The same animal: Ox and Ox 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 Ox and Ox 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 Ox is one of those. Two people are both Oxs when their Chinese birth years match or sit a multiple of twelve apart.
Who should an Ox marry?
The Ox's best matches for marriage are the same as for love: the Snake, the Rooster and the Rat, and the tradition forbids no pairing. Gender is not an input, so an Ox woman and an Ox 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 Ox'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 Ox?
Charts for the Ox often disagree with this page: some list four animals as its worst matches, where this page names one. 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 Ox 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