Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches: 60-Year Cycle

The system in three numbers

Stem-branch year calculator

Enter a Gregorian year to see its stem, branch, zodiac animal, element and position in the 60-pair cycle. If a birthday fell before Lunar New Year, choose the second option so the tool reads the previous lunar year.

The 10 Heavenly Stems

The Heavenly Stems, 天干 tiāngān, carry the Five Elements in alternating yang and yin forms. In a zodiac year label, this is the source of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water.

The 12 Earthly Branches, animals and hours

The Earthly Branches, 地支 dìzhī, form the 12-position cycle. Each branch is associated with one zodiac animal and a traditional two-hour period.

The character 羊 yáng can be translated as Goat, Sheep or Ram. The Zodiac Lore uses “Goat” consistently while keeping the original character visible.

How the 60-pair cycle advances

The sequence begins with 甲子 jiǎzǐ. Both lists then move forward together: 乙丑 yǐchǒu, 丙寅 bǐngyín, and so on. The animal branch returns after 12 steps, but the same stem and branch do not meet again until step 60.

That distinction explains why a Dragon year arrives every 12 years while the same Wood Dragon stem-branch pair returns only every 60 years. The full cycle is listed on the 60-year Chinese zodiac cycle chart.

Reading a year name step by step

A Gregorian year number alone is not enough for a January or early-February birthday. The popular zodiac year changes at Lunar New Year, not January 1. Read the January and February zodiac boundary guide before assigning the pair to a person.

Stems and branches are used beyond years

Years are the most familiar use on a zodiac site, but they are only one layer. The system has also been used to label months, days and hours. The Hong Kong Observatory’s calendar reference notes an important historical distinction: stem-branch year and day notation has been used for two to three thousand years, while months and double-hours were originally paired with branches alone and received stems later.

In Four Pillars, year, month, day and hour each receive a stem-branch pair, producing eight characters in total. This page explains the naming structure; the BaZi calculator handles the four-pillar calculation.

Five common mistakes

• Stopping at the animal. The branch gives the animal, but the full year label also needs its stem.
• Calling Fire or Water a permanent animal trait. The year element comes from the stem; different Horse years can carry different stems and elements.
• Expecting all 120 mathematical pairings. The ordered sequence keeps yin with yin and yang with yang, leaving 60 valid pairs.
• Using January 1 as the zodiac cutoff. Popular birth-year lookup follows Lunar New Year; some Four Pillars practice uses Lìchūn.
• Treating the year pillar as a personality test. The system is a calendar and cultural framework. Symbolic readings are traditional interpretations, not scientific personality facts.

Want your own stem-branch pillar worked out?

The 60-pair cycle above is the structural map. Applying it to an actual birth year — yours, or yours next to a partner’s — is a different task from reading the reference table:

Continue from the structure to your year