五行 is usually translated as "five elements," and that translation is misleading. 行 (xíng) means "to move" or "phase," not "element." The five aren't substances the world is made of — they're processes the world moves through.
The five phases
| Phase | Pinyin | Quality | Season | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 木 | mù | wood — growth, expansion, pushing upward | spring | east |
| 火 | huǒ | fire — rising, heat, peak activity | summer | south |
| 土 | tǔ | earth — stability, settling, transition | late summer | center |
| 金 | jīn | metal — contraction, sharpness, cutting back | autumn | west |
| 水 | shuǐ | water — sinking, storing, dormancy | winter | north |
Read down the "quality" column and you have a year: growth, peak, settling, cutting back, dormancy. The system describes cycles, which is why it maps so naturally onto seasons and onto years.
The two cycles
Everything in five-phase theory runs on two relationships.
Generating (相生) — the support cycle
木 → 火 → 土 → 金 → 水 → 木
Wood burns to make fire; fire leaves ash that becomes earth; earth yields metal; metal surfaces collect water; water feeds wood. Each phase feeds the next.
Overcoming (相克) — the control cycle
木 → 土 → 水 → 火 → 金 → 木
Wood breaks through earth; earth dams water; water puts out fire; fire melts metal; metal cuts wood. Each phase keeps another one in check.
How the five phases attach to the zodiac
The phases enter the zodiac through the ten heavenly stems (天干), not through the animals. Every stem carries a phase:
| Stems | Phase |
|---|---|
| 甲乙 | Wood |
| 丙丁 | Fire |
| 戊己 | Earth |
| 庚辛 | Metal |
| 壬癸 | Water |
Why "Wood Tiger" and "Fire Tiger" are different
This is the payoff, and most zodiac sites skip it entirely.
A tiger year comes around every twelve years — but the stem changes each time. Because the ten stems and twelve branches only fully realign every sixty years, tiger years cycle through five different phases:
| Year | Pinyin | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 甲寅 | jiǎ yín | Wood Tiger | 2034 |
| 丙寅 | bǐng yín | Fire Tiger | 1986 |
| 戊寅 | wù yín | Earth Tiger | 1998 |
| 庚寅 | gēng yín | Metal Tiger | 2010 |
| 壬寅 | rén yín | Water Tiger | 2022 |
Someone born in 1998 (Earth Tiger) and someone born in 2010 (Metal Tiger) share an animal but not a phase. In traditional reading, that's a meaningful difference — the phase is what the almanacs actually work with.
A note on years: every year on this page is a lunar year. A zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year — between late January and mid-February — not on January 1. If you were born in January or early February, you may belong to the previous year's animal.
Every animal page on this site follows the same logic. For the year-by-year breakdown, see the full 60-year cycle. See the tiger's breakdown for the full explanation of why only five stems can pair with 寅.
Where the branches sit
Each earthly branch also carries a phase:
寅卯 → wood · 巳午 → fire · 申酉 → metal · 亥子 → water · 丑辰未戌 → earth
So a year carries two phase signals at once: one from its stem, one from its branch. This layering is exactly why traditional Chinese calendars are complex — and why the zodiac animal, which captures none of it, is best understood as the simplified, popular layer.
Convert any date to the lunar calendar →Enter a date and see its lunar date, ganzhi year name, zodiac animal, branch, and element — with the working shown.