Zodiac Signs in Hindi: All 12 Names & Meanings
The zodiac signs in Hindi come with a complication that no European language on this site has: your Hindi sign may not be the same sign as your English one.
Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, anchored to the spring equinox. Indian astrology — Jyotish, often called Vedic astrology — uses the sidereal zodiac, anchored to the fixed stars. The two drifted apart over roughly two thousand years and now sit about 23 or 24 degrees out of step. In practical terms the Vedic dates run around three weeks later.
So someone born on 15 April is an Aries in London and a Meen (Pisces) by the sidereal reckoning most Indian astrologers use. That is not a translation issue. It is two different systems using the same twelve names.
All 12 Zodiac Signs in Hindi
The Hindi word for a zodiac sign is राशि (rāśi). Each of the twelve is a rāśi, and the names are Sanskrit.
| English | Hindi | Transliteration | Literally | Western dates | Vedic dates (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | मेष | Meṣh | ram | 21 Mar – 19 Apr | 14 Apr – 14 May |
| Taurus | वृषभ | Vṛiṣhabh | bull | 20 Apr – 20 May | 15 May – 14 Jun |
| Gemini | मिथुन | Mithun | a pair, a couple | 21 May – 20 Jun | 15 Jun – 16 Jul |
| Cancer | कर्क | Kark | crab | 21 Jun – 22 Jul | 17 Jul – 16 Aug |
| Leo | सिंह | Siṃh | lion | 23 Jul – 22 Aug | 17 Aug – 16 Sep |
| Virgo | कन्या | Kanyā | maiden, girl | 23 Aug – 22 Sep | 17 Sep – 17 Oct |
| Libra | तुला | Tulā | scales, balance | 23 Sep – 22 Oct | 18 Oct – 16 Nov |
| Scorpio | वृश्चिक | Vṛiśhchik | scorpion | 23 Oct – 21 Nov | 17 Nov – 15 Dec |
| Sagittarius | धनु | Dhanu | bow | 22 Nov – 21 Dec | 16 Dec – 14 Jan |
| Capricorn | मकर | Makar | Makara, a sea-monster | 22 Dec – 19 Jan | 15 Jan – 12 Feb |
| Aquarius | कुम्भ | Kumbh | pot, pitcher | 20 Jan – 18 Feb | 13 Feb – 14 Mar |
| Pisces | मीन | Meen | fish | 19 Feb – 20 Mar | 15 Mar – 13 Apr |
The Vedic dates shift by a day or so year to year, and different schools use slightly different correction values. Treat them as approximate; a proper reading is calculated from your exact birth time, not looked up in a table.
Which Set of Dates Should You Use?
It depends entirely on which tradition you are reading.
- Reading a newspaper horoscope in English, or an app built in the West? Use the Western dates. Your sign is the one you already know.
- Consulting an Indian astrologer, or having a kundali prepared? Use the Vedic dates. And expect the astrologer to work from your moon sign rather than your sun sign, which changes the answer again.
- Reading a Hindi-language horoscope column? Almost certainly Vedic — but not always, since some Hindi media now run translated Western columns.
This is the single most common confusion around the zodiac signs in Hindi, and it is worth being explicit about: neither system is a mistranslation of the other. They are separate traditions that happen to share twelve names.
The Twelve Rashi Names and What They Mean
All twelve names are Sanskrit, and most are ordinary Sanskrit nouns rather than astrological coinages.
The four that match the Latin exactly
मेष (ram), वृषभ (bull), कर्क (crab) and सिंह (lion) are direct equivalents of Aries, Taurus, Cancer and Leo. Note Siṃh — it is the same word behind the surname Singh, and behind Singapore, Siṃhapura, the lion city. See the Aries, Taurus, Cancer and Leo profiles.
The three that name the object, not the person
तुला is a balance, the instrument. धनु is a bow — not an archer, not a centaur, just the weapon, making Hindi the only language here that names Sagittarius after the object alone. कुम्भ is a pot or pitcher, which puts Hindi with East Asia in making Aquarius a vessel rather than a water-bearer. Kumbh is also the name of the Kumbh Mela, the mass pilgrimage held when Jupiter enters particular signs. See the Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius profiles.
The two that differ interestingly from the Latin
मिथुन does not mean “twins”. It means a pair or a couple — and in Sanskrit usage often a male-and-female pair, which is why classical Indian depictions of this sign show a man and a woman rather than two identical brothers. Latin Gemini is specifically twins; Mithun is broader.
कन्या means a girl or an unmarried young woman, not specifically a virgin — closer to the Scandinavian “maiden” than to Chinese 处女 or Italian Vergine. See the Gemini and Virgo profiles.
The one that travelled the furthest
मकर is Makara, the Sanskrit sea-monster — part land animal, part fish. This is the original. Chinese borrowed it as 摩羯 through Buddhist scripture and Vietnamese inherited it as Ma Kết, while every European language on this site replaced it with a goat or an ibex. Hindi has the source. Makar Sankranti, the festival marking the sun’s entry into this sign in mid-January, is one of the few Indian festivals fixed to the solar calendar. See the Capricorn profile.
And the two remaining
वृश्चिक is a scorpion — the hardest of the twelve to pronounce, with a consonant cluster English does not have. मीन is fish, singular in form where Latin Pisces is plural. See the Scorpio and Pisces profiles.
Talking About Zodiac Signs in Hindi
| English | Hindi | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| zodiac sign | राशि | rāśi |
| zodiac | राशिचक्र | rāśichakra |
| horoscope, forecast | राशिफल | rāśiphal |
| birth chart | कुंडली | kuṇḍalī |
| astrology | ज्योतिष | jyotiṣh |
| astrologer | ज्योतिषी | jyotiṣhī |
| moon sign | चंद्र राशि | chandra rāśi |
| sun sign | सूर्य राशि | sūrya rāśi |
| ascendant | लग्न | lagna |
| lunar mansion | नक्षत्र | nakṣhatra |
The phrases:
- आपकी राशि क्या है? — Āpkī rāśi kyā hai? — What’s your zodiac sign?
- मेरी राशि वृश्चिक है। — Merī rāśi vṛiśhchik hai. — My sign is Scorpio.
- आज का राशिफल — Āj kā rāśiphal — today’s horoscope. This exact phrase is one of the highest-volume searches in Hindi.
Two terms worth understanding beyond the sign names. कुंडली (kundali) is the birth chart, and it carries real social weight — kundali matching is still common practice in arranged marriages. And नक्षत्र (nakshatra) refers to the 27 lunar mansions, a layer of Indian astrology with no Western equivalent, which sits underneath the twelve rāśi.
Rashi and Rashiphal in India
India is one of the largest astrology markets in the world, and the register is different in kind from Europe’s. Rāśiphal is not a novelty column — it runs daily on national television, in every regional newspaper, and across Hindi news portals, and it is consulted for practical decisions about weddings, house purchases and travel dates.
Which has one implication for anyone writing this content: the Vedic system is the default expectation for a Hindi-speaking audience. Publishing Western sun-sign dates in Hindi without flagging the difference will draw corrections from readers who know their rāśi from their kundali.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say “zodiac sign” in Hindi?
राशि (rāśi). A horoscope is rāśiphal and a birth chart is kundali.
What are the 12 zodiac signs in Hindi?
मेष, वृषभ, मिथुन, कर्क, सिंह, कन्या, तुला, वृश्चिक, धनु, मकर, कुम्भ and मीन — Meṣh, Vṛiṣhabh, Mithun, Kark, Siṃh, Kanyā, Tulā, Vṛiśhchik, Dhanu, Makar, Kumbh and Meen.
Why are Hindi zodiac dates different from Western dates?
Indian astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, fixed to the stars; Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, fixed to the equinox. The two have drifted roughly 23 degrees apart, so Vedic sign dates fall about three weeks later.
Is my Hindi rashi the same as my Western star sign?
Often not. Anyone born in roughly the first three weeks of a Western sign falls into the previous sign under the Vedic system. Indian astrologers also usually work from the moon sign rather than the sun sign.
What does “Makar” mean?
Makara, a Sanskrit sea-monster with a fish’s tail. It is the original that Chinese 摩羯 and Vietnamese Ma Kết both borrowed, and that European languages replaced with a goat.
What is the difference between rashi and nakshatra?
The twelve rāśi divide the zodiac into twelve parts. The 27 nakshatra divide it into twenty-seven lunar mansions, a finer layer used in Indian astrology with no Western counterpart.
Zodiac Signs in Hindi and the Languages Around It
Hindi shares its Sanskrit sign names with much of South Asia, but not its script or its vocabulary route — the zodiac signs in Urdu come from Arabic astronomy instead, so the two languages of northern India and Pakistan use entirely different names for the same twelve signs. Further east, Hindi’s Makar is the source of Chinese 摩羯: see the Chinese list and the Vietnamese list.
All languages: zodiac signs in different languages.
