Zodiac Signs in Chinese: All 12 Star Signs and 12 Animals

There are two different things called the zodiac signs in Chinese, and most people searching for one land on the other.

星座 (xīngzuò) is the Western zodiac: the twelve signs tied to your birth date, Aries through Pisces. 生肖 (shēngxiào) is the Chinese zodiac: the twelve-year animal cycle tied to your birth year, Rat, Ox, Tiger and so on. They share nothing except the number twelve.

This guide covers both. You get all 12 star signs in Chinese characters and pinyin, with the Taiwan variants, then the 12 zodiac animals in Chinese, then the story behind each sign’s name and the horoscope and astrology vocabulary you need to talk about them in Mandarin.

Quick answer: “zodiac sign” in Chinese is 星座 (xīngzuò). Aries is 白羊座 (báiyáng zuò), and a Chinese zodiac animal such as the Dragon is 龙 (lóng), written 龍 in traditional characters.

All 12 Western Zodiac Signs in Chinese (星座)

This table gives the zodiac signs in Chinese and English side by side, with the translation of each name. Every sign name ends in 座 (zuò), which means “seat” and marks a constellation. Strip it off and what remains describes the figure.

Simplified vs traditional: five signs are written with different characters: Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio and Pisces. The other seven are identical in both scripts.

Taiwan variant: for Aries, Taiwan commonly writes 牡羊座 (mǔyáng zuò, “male sheep”) where mainland China uses 白羊座 (báiyáng zuò, “white sheep”). Both are correct, so expect to see either in Traditional-character sources.

Zodiac Signs in Mandarin: How to Pronounce Them

The pronunciation is the same everywhere Mandarin is spoken, in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. Three points cover most mistakes:

• 座 is always zuò, in the fourth (falling) tone. The tones belong to the part before it, so 天蝎座 is tiānxiē zuò, with 蝎 in the first tone.

• 天秤座 has two readings. Tiānchèng zuò is the standard one, but 秤 is also read píng, so you will hear tiānpíng zuò too.

• 处女座 starts with a third tone. 处 is chǔ here, giving chǔnǚ zuò.

The names change only if you switch to Cantonese. There 白羊座 is baak6 joeng4 zo6 (Jyutping), and the characters stay the same.

Chinese Zodiac Animals in Chinese Characters (生肖)

The 12 Chinese zodiac animals are called 十二生肖 (shí’èr shēngxiào), or 十二属相 (shí’èr shǔxiàng). Each animal rules one year in a repeating 12-year cycle that starts with the Rat.

Four animals are written differently in simplified and traditional characters: Dragon, Horse, Rooster and Pig. And 羊 covers both goat and sheep, so English sources split between the two.

Chinese zodiac years begin at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. Someone born in early January or February may belong to the previous year’s animal. 2026 is the Year of the Horse (马年, mǎ nián), which began on 17 February 2026.

To ask someone’s animal sign, say 你属什么？(Nǐ shǔ shénme?). To answer, say 我属马。(Wǒ shǔ mǎ.), “I was born in a Horse year.”

How to Find Your Chinese Zodiac Sign

Which sign you want decides how you find it.

Your Western star sign (星座): match your birth date to the date ranges in the star sign table above.

Your Chinese zodiac animal (生肖): use your birth year, with one catch. The animal changes at Lunar New Year, which falls between late January and mid-February, not on 1 January.

1. Find your birth year in the animal table, or add or subtract 12 until you reach a listed year.

2. If you were born before Lunar New Year that year, use the previous year instead.

Or use the formula: subtract 4 from your birth year, divide by 12, and read the remainder. 0 is Rat, 1 Ox, 2 Tiger, 3 Rabbit, 4 Dragon, 5 Snake, 6 Horse, 7 Goat, 8 Monkey, 9 Rooster, 10 Dog and 11 Pig. For 1999, (1999 − 4) ÷ 12 leaves a remainder of 3, so the animal is the Rabbit.

The Horse year runs from 17 February 2026 to 5 February 2027, so someone born on 1 February 2026 is still a Snake.

Your zodiac year (本命年, běnmìngnián) is any year ruled by your own animal, which returns every 12 years. Tradition treats it as a year for extra care, and many people wear red for protection. In 2026, a Horse year, it applies to people born in 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978 and 1966.

Chinese Star Signs vs Chinese Zodiac Animals: What’s the Difference?

The two systems answer different questions, and Mandarin keeps the words apart.

To be explicit, Mandarin adds a label. 西方十二星座 (xīfāng shí’èr xīngzuò) means “the 12 Western zodiac signs”, and 中国十二生肖 (Zhōngguó shí’èr shēngxiào) means “the 12 Chinese zodiac animals”.

Aries and Taurus in Chinese: Two Signs Named With Colours

This is the first thing that strikes anyone who knows the Latin names. Chinese added a colour where the original had none.

Aries in Chinese: 白羊座 (báiyáng zuò)

Báiyáng is a white ram: 白 (white) plus 羊 (sheep or goat). Neither the Latin name Aries nor its Greek source specifies a colour, so the white is a Chinese addition.

Taiwan often drops it. The Taiwanese form 牡羊座 (mǔyáng zuò) swaps 白 for 牡 (mǔ), which marks a male animal, so it reads as “male sheep”. See the Aries profile.

Taurus in Chinese: 金牛座 (jīnniú zuò)

Jīnniú is a golden ox: 金 (gold) plus 牛 (cattle). Again, there is no gold in the Latin name.

Note 牛, which covers cattle generally rather than a bull specifically. That puts Chinese alongside Swedish and Finnish in choosing an ox over a bull. More in the Taurus profile.

Libra and Scorpio in Chinese: The Two “Heavenly” Signs

The character 天 (tiān) means sky or heaven. Two signs carry it as a prefix, marking them as celestial versions of ordinary things.

Libra in Chinese: 天秤座 (tiānchèng zuò)

秤 (chèng) is a balance or steelyard, the kind of scale a merchant uses. With 天 in front it becomes the heavenly balance.

There is a pronunciation trap: 秤 is also read píng, and you will hear 天秤座 said both ways. Tiānchèng is the standard reading for the sign. The Libra profile covers the sign itself.

Scorpio in Chinese: 天蝎座 (tiānxiē zuò)

蝎 (xiē) is a scorpion, so 天蝎 is the heavenly scorpion. Scorpio is where simplified and traditional characters part company most visibly: 蝎 against 蠍. See the Scorpio profile.

Gemini and Pisces in Chinese: The Two “Paired” Signs

Where English has a Latin plural, Chinese does not mark plurals, so it used the number two instead.

Gemini in Chinese: 双子座 (shuāngzǐ zuò)

双 (shuāng) means a pair and 子 (zǐ) means child or son: paired children. Chinese could have used 孪生 (luánshēng), the everyday word for twins, and did not. It chose the more literal image. Traditional characters write it 雙子座. The Gemini profile has more.

Pisces in Chinese: 双鱼座 (shuāngyú zuò)

双 again, plus 鱼 (yú), fish: paired fish. The doubling matters more in Chinese than in English, because 双鱼 recalls the two fish of Chinese decorative art, a symbol of abundance. Traditional characters write it 雙魚座. See the Pisces profile.

Why Capricorn in Chinese Comes From Sanskrit

Capricorn in Chinese: 摩羯座 (mójié zuò)

This is the most interesting name on the list, and it shows how part of the zodiac reached Chinese.

摩羯 (mójié) is not a description. It is a transliteration of Makara, the Sanskrit sea-monster, a creature with the forequarters of a land animal and the tail of a fish. The name entered Chinese through Buddhist scripture translated from Sanskrit.

That means Chinese Capricorn keeps something many European languages lost. German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish all replaced the goat-fish with a plain mountain ibex. Chinese kept the hybrid, by way of India. The Capricorn profile has the sign itself.

Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius in Chinese

The remaining five Chinese star signs.

Cancer in Chinese: 巨蟹座 (jùxiè zuò)

巨 (jù) is giant and 蟹 (xiè) is crab. It is a crab rather than the crayfish the Nordic languages chose, and a large one. Read the Cancer profile.

Leo in Chinese: 狮子座 (shīzi zuò)

狮子 (shīzi) is simply the word for lion. Traditional characters write it 獅子座. 狮 is itself an old loan into Chinese, since lions are not native to China, much like Finnish Leijona. See the Leo profile.

Virgo in Chinese: 处女座 (chǔnǚ zuò)

处女 (chǔnǚ) means virgin, directly and unambiguously. Chinese did not soften it to “maiden” the way the Scandinavian languages did. Traditional characters write it 處女座.

The sign carries a strong stereotype in Chinese internet culture, where 处女座 is shorthand for obsessive perfectionism, more pointed than the English equivalent. More in the Virgo profile.

Sagittarius in Chinese: 射手座 (shèshǒu zuò)

射 (shè) is to shoot and 手 (shǒu) is hand: a “shooting hand”, meaning an archer or marksman. You will also see 人马座 (rénmǎ zuò), “man-horse”, the centaur, used for the astronomical constellation. For the astrological sign, 射手座 dominates. See the Sagittarius profile.

Aquarius in Chinese: 水瓶座 (shuǐpíng zuò)

水瓶 (shuǐpíng) is a water bottle or jar: the vessel rather than the person carrying it. This is a real divergence, because most European languages make Aquarius a man who carries water. Chinese, Japanese and Korean all make it the container. See the Aquarius profile.

Horoscope in Chinese: 星座运势 and Related Words

“Horoscope” in Chinese is 星座运势 (xīngzuò yùnshì), literally “star sign fortune”. The second word, 运势 (yùnshì), means fortune or luck, and you can pair it with any period or topic.

To ask what your horoscope says, try 今天的星座运势怎么样？ (Jīntiān de xīngzuò yùnshì zěnmeyàng?), “How does today’s horoscope look?”

Astrology in Chinese: 占星术 and Astrological Signs

“Astrology” in Chinese is 占星术 (zhānxīngshù), written 占星術 in traditional characters. “Astrological sign” is the same word as “star sign”: 星座 (xīngzuò).

星座 means both “constellation” and “astrological sign”, so context does all the work.

Useful Phrases: Talking About Zodiac Signs in Mandarin

Two usage notes. In casual speech the 座 is often dropped, so 我是天蝎 is perfectly normal. And in traditional characters the first question is written 你是什麼星座？

Don’t mix up the two questions: 你是什么星座？ asks about your birth date, while 你属什么？ asks about your birth year.

Star Signs in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore

The Western zodiac now sits alongside the animal cycle in Chinese-speaking communities rather than replacing it. Younger urban speakers use 星座 for dating and personality talk much as English speakers use star signs. Older generations are more likely to reach for 生肖. Both circulate freely, and asking which one someone means is entirely normal.

Usage differs by place:

• Mainland China: simplified characters, with 白羊座 for Aries.

• Taiwan: traditional characters, with 牡羊座 commonly used for Aries.

• Hong Kong: traditional characters and spoken Cantonese, so the sounds differ even when the characters match.

• Singapore and Malaysia: Chinese-language media mostly use simplified characters.

Frequently Asked Questions About Zodiac Signs In Chinese

Zodiac Signs in Chinese and the Languages That Borrowed From It

Chinese is the source for several other lists on this site. The zodiac signs in Vietnamese are these same characters read with Vietnamese pronunciation, and the zodiac signs in Japanese use the same 座 suffix with native Japanese readings. Korean built the same system with its own suffix. For the European approach, compare the German list, which translated every image into native words.

To find your own sign, check the horoscope dates, or work out your 星盘 (birth chart) with the birth chart calculator.

All languages: zodiac signs in different languages.

• Zodiac Signs in English: Names, Meanings & Plurals
• Zodiac Signs in Japanese: All 12 Names & Meanings

About this guide: Written for educational purposes from standard Chinese-language references and Western date tables, and checked by a native Mandarin speaker. For a personal reading, consult a qualified practitioner.