The Goat is the animal of creative sensitivity: imagination, a taste for harmony and comfort.
The animal that cultivates the art of living: its sensitivity enriches its bonds and asks for a framework that protects it.
A fruitful sensitivity: the Goat perceives nuances, inspires gentleness, and gives a poetic turn to the ordinary.
Indecision and a need for reassurance can make it depend on others’ opinions when it comes time to choose.
By Thomas Guilhot · updated
| Year | Starts | Element | Polarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967丁未 | February 9, 1967 | Fire | Yin |
| 1979己未 | January 28, 1979 | Earth | Yin |
| 1991辛未 | February 15, 1991 | Metal | Yin |
| 2003癸未 | February 1, 2003 | Water | Yin |
| 2015乙未 | February 19, 2015 | Wood | Yin |
| 2027丁未 | February 6, 2027 | Fire | Yin |
| 2039己未 | January 24, 2039 | Earth | Yin |
The Goat loves beauty, nature, shared moments.
Imaginative, it finds itself in the arts, crafts, cooking, anything that leaves room for invention. It attaches to people with a tender fidelity and tolerates prolonged tension poorly. Its downside: a taste for comfort that can hold back initiative, a tendency to complain when things resist, and doubt about its own decisions. A reassuring routine and a few solid landmarks help it dare. It notices what others overlook: an unusual light, a tone of voice, the color of a season. It has a sense of hospitality and a taste for discreet attentions, like a dish prepared without being asked. It is generous when it feels respected, and gentle even in disagreement. Open conflicts hurt it, to the point of making it avoid certain conversations. It may then complain in a small circle rather than speak to the person concerned. Its path: taming the word “no,” choosing in advance what matters, and entrusting its creations to others before it judges them too imperfect to be shown.
The Goat loves with tenderness, imagination, and generosity.
It appreciates poetic attentions, shared dinners, gentle plans. It asks for emotional security, without which it may doubt when the other goes quiet. Saying often what you appreciate about it, rather than assuming it knows, nourishes the relationship over time. It opens up gradually, in small touches, and cherishes couple rituals that repeat gently.
It expresses itself fully in roles of creation, support, caring for living spaces, or crafts, and in supportive teams.
The pressure of immediate results paralyzes it. Shared goals, deadlines announced in advance, and visible support let it give the best of its creativity. Its work flourishes when it has meaning and when it is allowed time to polish.
For the Goat, home is a living set: plants, colors, flea-market finds, cooking smells.
It likes to take its time in the morning and hates being rushed. It does well to set two or three regular appointments that structure the week, without taking away the freedom to wander between them. A walk, a notebook, a corner of nature: it recharges in slowness and beauty.
The element changes from one twelve-year cycle to the next: the same animal year comes back with a different element, and the same pairing returns every sixty years.
1955, 2015, 2075
The Wood Goat is said to be the most altruistic: generous, it invests itself for others, sometimes to the point of forgetting itself.
The Wood element →1907, 1967, 2027, 2087
The Fire Goat is said to be more expressive and more brilliant: it dares to assert itself more, with a sensitivity that ignites quickly.
The Fire element →1919, 1979, 2039, 2099
The Earth Goat is said to double its element: pragmatic and attached to security, it builds carefully but resists change.
The Earth element →1943, 2003, 2063
The Water Goat is said to be the most receptive: it feels moods intensely and needs time to recharge.
The Water element →Triangle, opposition, secret friend, harm: relationships handed down by tradition, described without a score.
Four years apart: the same affinities, according to tradition.
Six years apart: face to face on the circle.
A pair known as “secret friends” (liuhe).
A pair known as “harm” (liuhai), one that needs adjusting.
The animal is sometimes translated as “sheep” or “ram” depending on the region and language; the same Chinese character covers all three animals.
In the legendary race, the Goat is said to have crossed the river on a raft with the Monkey and the Rooster, in eighth position. These variations in translation and story show how flexible the tradition remains. In ancient China, the goat was associated with gentleness, peace, and favorable omens: the character that designates it appears in words meaning “happiness” or “good omen,” according to popular explanations. It also appears in legends of cities founded by celestial goats. These stories are passed down in several versions.
Each year of the Goat begins at Chinese New Year, between January 21 and February 20: a birth in January or early February often belongs to the previous animal.
Before the year’s Chinese New Year, the animal is still that of the previous year: the Horse. Example: February 5, 2027, the eve of the 2027 New Year, still belongs to the Horse.
Check with my date →All the years in the table: 1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039, 2051, 2063, 2075, 2087, 2099.
Eighth in the cycle, the Goat comes around every twelve years. The page gives you the years from its tool, with the New Year date for each: the calendar year alone is not enough to identify the animal of a birth near the start of the year.
It is not guaranteed. For a January or February birth, everything depends on when the Chinese year opens: if it falls before that date, the previous animal applies. Enter your day in the tool, which gives the answer and flags the cases to check with care.
It is associated with gentleness, creativity, empathy, and a taste for comfort; it is credited with hesitations and touchiness. This portrait is a symbolic image: it can prompt reflection, never define a person.
Its trine of affinity joins it to the Rabbit and the Pig, its secret harmony to the Horse. It faces the Ox in opposition and the Rat in harm. These words describe climates of encounter according to tradition; the compatibility page adds nuance and refuses any verdict.