Quick Answer: What Are the Twelve Earthly Branches?
The Earthly Branches (地支, dìzhī) are twelve ordered characters used in Chinese calendrical systems. Their associations include the animals of the Chinese zodiac (生肖, shēngxiào), months, directions and traditional two-hour periods called shichen (时辰, shíchén).
- The ordered sequence repeats after twelve positions.
- Each branch has an associated animal and double-hour.
- The same branch can label different units of time; a year branch and an hour branch are separate positions.
- Branches combine with a ten-part stem sequence to form sixty paired labels.
The table is a cultural reference. Applying it to a birth chart also requires the chart’s calendar and time conventions.
A label such as “Rat” can identify a year or a time of day, depending on context. Reading the position first prevents an animal name from doing more work than the label supports. The stem-branch overview explains the combined system; this page concentrates on its twelve-part sequence.
Twelve Branches, Animals and Double-Hours
This is the standard order. The hour column uses 24-hour notation, including the start and excluding the end; the final column gives traditional month numbering, not Gregorian month numbers. Characters and pinyin follow the academic reference, with hours and animal correspondences checked against the calendar sources.[1][2][3]
| Position | Branch | Animal | Double-hour | Traditional month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zi (子, Zǐ) | Rat | 23:00–01:00 | 11 |
| 2 | Chou (丑, Chǒu) | Ox | 01:00–03:00 | 12 |
| 3 | Yin (寅, Yín) | Tiger | 03:00–05:00 | 1 |
| 4 | Mao (卯, Mǎo) | Rabbit | 05:00–07:00 | 2 |
| 5 | Chen (辰, Chén) | Dragon | 07:00–09:00 | 3 |
| 6 | Si (巳, Sì) | Snake | 09:00–11:00 | 4 |
| 7 | Wu (午, Wǔ) | Horse | 11:00–13:00 | 5 |
| 8 | Wei (未, Wèi) | Goat / Sheep (羊, yáng) | 13:00–15:00 | 6 |
| 9 | Shen (申, Shēn) | Monkey | 15:00–17:00 | 7 |
| 10 | You (酉, Yǒu) | Rooster | 17:00–19:00 | 8 |
| 11 | Xu (戌, Xū) | Dog | 19:00–21:00 | 9 |
| 12 | Hai (亥, Hài) | Pig | 21:00–23:00 | 10 |
Goat and Sheep occupy the same Wei animal position, rather than adding another branch.[2][3]
Reading the Hours Around Midnight
Each double-hour covers two modern hours. Zi crosses midnight, so both 23:30 and 00:30 fall within the displayed Zi interval. At 01:00 the reference table moves to Chou; at 13:00 it moves to Wei.[1]
That hour label does not, by itself, settle which day a chart assigns. Published BaZi (八字, bāzì) calculation methods can distinguish a 23:00 day change from a midnight change. One documented method changes its Day Pillar at 00:00, while separately explaining late-Zi hour-stem handling.[4]
Check the time basis as well: some methods correct recorded civil time for historical time-zone rules, daylight saving, longitude and the equation of time before assigning the hour branch.[4] Near a boundary, those choices can affect the result. A cultural lookup table cannot replace the method’s calculation rules or supply an unknown birth time.
Month Names and Solar-Term Boundaries
Traditional numbering begins its first month with Yin, although the branch sequence itself starts with Zi. The month column therefore begins 11, 12, 1, 2—not January, February, March, April.[1][2]
In one widely used BaZi convention, month boundaries follow specified solar terms. Yin month begins at Li Chun (立春, lìchūn), or Spring Commences; it is not simply the first day of a lunar month.[4] A lunar month label and a solar-term month label should consequently retain their own calendar context.
Year labels also need a boundary rule. The official Chinese calendar uses Lunar New Year, while a Spring Commences boundary is used in divinatory practice.[5] The BaZi and Chinese zodiac comparison explains why nearby dates can receive different year labels under those conventions.
Directions and Seasonal Associations
The branches also function as a spatial and seasonal reference system. Four anchors are Zi at north, Mao at east, Wu at south and You at west. Their seasonal associations are winter, spring, summer and autumn respectively.[2]
This makes a branch more than an animal nickname. A label beside a compass sector has a different job from the same character beside a birth year. The directions guide explains how branch directions fit into broader traditional compass classifications.
These are traditional correspondences within Chinese cosmology. Recognizing a directional association does not establish that a room placement causes a particular personal outcome.
Branches Within the Sixty-Pair Cycle
The Heavenly Stems (天干, tiāngān) contain ten labels. Both sequences advance together, beginning with Jia-Zi (甲子, Jiǎzǐ), and return to their starting positions after sixty pairs.[6] Repeating an animal after twelve years therefore does not necessarily repeat the entire pair. Different stem years can share the same branch and animal.[3]
The ten-stem reference supplies the other sequence. Keep their similarly romanized names separate: the Horse branch is 午, Wǔ; the stem 戊 is Wù. Characters and tone marks resolve an ambiguity hidden by the unaccented spelling “Wu.”[2]
FAQs About the Earthly Branches
Does my year animal determine my hour branch?
No. The year and hour are separate calendar positions. An hour branch depends on the relevant time and the calculation convention, not on copying the year animal.
Why do some lists say Goat and others Sheep?
Both label the Wei animal position. The translation difference does not change its place in the twelve-branch sequence.
Does Yin mean the same thing as yin polarity?
No. The Tiger branch is 寅, Yín. In yin and yang (阴阳, yīnyáng), yin is 阴, yīn. The characters, tones and functions differ.
Do the branches predict personality?
They have interpretive roles in traditional systems. A branch association alone does not establish a person’s character or future.
Sources
[1] Hong Kong Observatory. Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches
[2] Joseph A. Adler, Kenyon College. Stems-Branches
[3] Hong Kong Observatory. The 12-Year Animal Cycle
[4] ChiBuddy. BaZi Calculation Methodology
[5] Hong Kong Observatory. What year is it today?
[6] E. G. Richards, U.S. Naval Observatory hosted extract. Calendars, Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac