Zodiac Signs in Vietnamese: All 12 Names & Meanings
Here is the shortcut for the zodiac signs in Vietnamese: they are the Chinese names, read out loud in Vietnamese. Not translated, not adapted — the same words, inherited through roughly a thousand years of Chinese-language scholarship in Vietnam, then written in the Latin alphabet when Vietnamese switched scripts.
Chinese 白羊座 is báiyáng. Vietnamese is Bạch Dương. Same two characters, same meaning, different mouth.
One disambiguation before the list. Cung hoàng đạo is the Western zodiac, tied to your birth date. 12 con giáp is the twelve-year animal cycle tied to your birth year — and Vietnam’s version famously differs from China’s, substituting the Cat for the Rabbit. This page is cung hoàng đạo.
All 12 Zodiac Signs in Vietnamese
| English | Vietnamese | Chinese source | Literally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Bạch Dương | 白羊 | white ram |
| Taurus | Kim Ngưu | 金牛 | golden ox |
| Gemini | Song Tử | 雙子 | paired children |
| Cancer | Cự Giải | 巨蟹 | giant crab |
| Leo | Sư Tử | 獅子 | lion |
| Virgo | Xử Nữ | 處女 | virgin |
| Libra | Thiên Bình | 天秤 | heavenly balance |
| Scorpio | Thiên Yết / Bọ Cạp | 天蠍 | heavenly scorpion |
| Sagittarius | Nhân Mã | 人馬 | man-horse (centaur) |
| Capricorn | Ma Kết | 摩羯 | Makara (a sea-monster) |
| Aquarius | Bảo Bình | 寶瓶 | precious vase |
| Pisces | Song Ngư | 雙魚 | paired fish |
Notice how systematic it is. Every Vietnamese name is two syllables, because every Chinese source is two characters. This is Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary, and it works exactly like Latin vocabulary in English: formal, compact, and slightly elevated compared with everyday native words.
Where Vietnamese Went Its Own Way
Three signs are worth stopping on, because Vietnamese did not simply copy.
Sagittarius in Vietnamese: Nhân Mã
Nhân is man, mã is horse. Vietnamese chose the centaur.
Chinese has two options for this sign: 射手座 (shèshǒu, “shooting hand”) and 人馬座 (rénmǎ, “man-horse”). Chinese astrology overwhelmingly uses the first. Vietnamese took the second. So where Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German and Swedish all point at an archer, Vietnamese points at the hybrid creature — closer to the original Greek figure than any of its neighbours. See the Sagittarius profile.
Aquarius in Vietnamese: Bảo Bình
Bảo is precious or treasured, bình is a vase or jar. A precious vase — from Chinese 寶瓶 rather than the 水瓶 (“water jar”) that Chinese, Japanese and Korean all use for the sign.
Vietnamese therefore has the most ornate Aquarius on this entire site. Europe has a water-bearing man; China, Japan and Korea have a plain water vessel; Vietnam has a treasure. See the Aquarius profile.
Scorpio in Vietnamese: Thiên Yết or Bọ Cạp
This is the one sign with two competing names in ordinary use. Thiên Yết is the Sino-Vietnamese form, matching Chinese 天蠍. Bọ Cạp is native Vietnamese — bọ is a bug or beetle, cạp refers to biting or pincers — and it is the everyday word for the animal.
Both are widely used for the sign, and which one appears tells you something about the register: Thiên Yết in formal or astrological writing, Bọ Cạp in casual conversation and social media. No other language in this cluster runs a native and a borrowed name in parallel like this. See the Scorpio profile.
The Nine That Track Chinese Exactly
- Bạch Dương — the white ram, colour and all. The colour is a Chinese addition with no basis in the Latin. The Aries profile.
- Kim Ngưu — the golden ox. Again the colour is Chinese, and ngưu means cattle rather than a bull specifically. The Taurus profile.
- Song Tử — paired children. Song means pair, and it appears again in Pisces. The Gemini profile.
- Cự Giải — the giant crab. Everyday Vietnamese for crab is cua; the sign uses the Sino-Vietnamese giải. The Cancer profile.
- Sư Tử — lion. This one has fully entered everyday Vietnamese; it is the normal word for the animal. The Leo profile.
- Xử Nữ — virgin, matching Chinese 處女 rather than softening to “maiden”. The Virgo profile.
- Thiên Bình — the heavenly balance. Thiên means heaven and turns up again in Thiên Yết. The Libra profile.
- Ma Kết — a transliteration of Sanskrit Makara, arriving via Chinese 摩羯, which arrived via Buddhist scripture. Vietnamese and Chinese are the only two languages on this site that preserve the goat-fish rather than replacing it with a goat or an ibex. The Capricorn profile.
- Song Ngư — paired fish, song again. The Pisces profile.
The Tone Marks Are Not Decoration
Vietnamese has six tones, and the diacritics above and below the vowels are what distinguish them. They are not accents in the French sense and they cannot be dropped. Bạch with the dot below is a different syllable from bach without it, and in Vietnamese a different syllable is usually a different word.
The marks in these twelve names:
- Bạch, Bọ, Cạp — the dot below is the nặng tone: low and abruptly cut off.
- Cự, Tử, Nữ, Xử, Bảo — the hook above is the hỏi tone: dipping and rising.
- Giải, Yết, Kết — the acute is the sắc tone: rising.
- Ngưu, Ngư, Dương, Bình, Nhân — no mark is the ngang tone: flat and level.
Also worth knowing: ư and ơ are separate letters from u and o, not variants. Ngư (fish) and ngu (stupid) are unrelated words, which is a mistake worth avoiding.
Talking About Zodiac Signs in Vietnamese
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| zodiac sign (Western) | cung hoàng đạo |
| sign | cung |
| animal zodiac (birth year) | 12 con giáp |
| horoscope | tử vi |
| astrology | chiêm tinh học |
| birth chart | bản đồ sao |
| rising sign | cung mọc |
The phrases:
- Bạn thuộc cung nào? — Which sign do you belong to?
- Tôi là Bọ Cạp. — I’m a Scorpio.
- Bạn tuổi con gì? — What animal year were you born in? (The other question.)
- Đúng chất Xử Nữ. — Very Virgo.
Note tử vi for horoscope. It refers most precisely to a traditional Chinese-derived astrological system, but in everyday Vietnamese it covers horoscopes generally, including Western ones.
Cung Hoàng Đạo in Vietnam
Vietnam runs both systems side by side and neither is dying out. The 12 con giáp is woven into the lunar new year, into naming conventions and into how people talk about age — and Vietnam’s Cat instead of the Rabbit is a point of national distinctiveness that Vietnamese speakers will happily explain.
Cung hoàng đạo is the younger arrival, spread through Vietnamese-language internet and youth media, and it dominates online personality content. Vietnamese astrology copy tends to be long, listicle-shaped and heavy on compatibility — closer to Brazilian than to Scandinavian in register.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say “zodiac sign” in Vietnamese?
Cung hoàng đạo for the Western zodiac, or just cung. The twelve-year animal cycle is 12 con giáp, a different system.
What are the 12 zodiac signs in Vietnamese?
Bạch Dương, Kim Ngưu, Song Tử, Cự Giải, Sư Tử, Xử Nữ, Thiên Bình, Thiên Yết, Nhân Mã, Ma Kết, Bảo Bình and Song Ngư.
Why do Vietnamese zodiac signs look like Chinese ones?
Because they are. Vietnamese inherited the names as Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary from centuries of Chinese-language scholarship, then wrote them in the Latin alphabet. The characters and meanings are Chinese; the pronunciation is Vietnamese.
Is Vietnamese Scorpio “Thiên Yết” or “Bọ Cạp”?
Both are correct and both are common. Thiên Yết is the formal Sino-Vietnamese name; Bọ Cạp is the native Vietnamese word for the animal and dominates casual use.
Why is Vietnamese Sagittarius a centaur?
Vietnamese took Chinese 人馬 (“man-horse”) rather than 射手 (“archer”). Chinese astrology prefers the latter, so Vietnamese ends up closer to the original Greek figure than Chinese does.
Does the Vietnamese zodiac have a cat?
Yes, but in the other system. The 12 con giáp animal cycle has the Cat where the Chinese cycle has the Rabbit. The Western zodiac is unaffected.
Zodiac Signs in Vietnamese and Its Source Language
Read the zodiac signs in Chinese alongside this page and the borrowing becomes obvious character by character. The Japanese and Korean lists took the same system but translated the meanings into native words instead of inheriting the sounds. For a language that owes the zodiac nothing at all, see Finnish.
All languages: zodiac signs in different languages.
