Year of the Ox: Ox Zodiac Years, Dates, Traits and Compatibility

The Year of the Ox is the year in the twelve-animal Chinese zodiac cycle when the Ox takes its turn. The Ox (牛) is sign number 2 of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, and people born in an Ox year are traditionally described as steady, dependable and patient. The Ox carried the Rat across the river in the Great Race and came second, a story that captures the sign's reliability and its willingness to keep going. Below you will find the exact start and end dates for each Ox year from 1925 to 2033, worked birthday examples, traits, compatibility and Tai Sui notes for 2026 and 2027.

The Ox matches the branch Chou (丑), the hours of 1 to 3 am, and the image of a farm animal that works the fields through every season. The Smith College Museum of Art notes that the twelve zodiac animals are known as the twelve earthly branches, which are paired with ten heavenly stems to name days, months and years.

Year of the Ox: exact dates

An Ox year begins on Chinese New Year, not on January 1. The Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Chinese New Year explains that the zodiac year begins with the festival, which starts on the new moon falling between January 21 and February 20. Because of this, the start date moves from one year to the next, and a birthday in January or early February can fall on either side of the line.

These dates come from the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table, which is the reference we use for every boundary on this page.

How the boundary works

The Britannica entry on the Chinese calendar describes the calendar as lunisolar, with months of 29 or 30 days and occasional intercalary months. Since the zodiac follows the lunisolar year, the sign changes at Chinese New Year rather than at the Gregorian midnight. The three worked examples below show how this plays out.

In each case the birthday date alone does not settle the sign. You need to compare it with that year's Chinese New Year.

Ox personality in Chinese tradition

Traditional descriptions of the Ox focus on being steady, dependable and patient. These are cultural associations shared by everyone born under the same sign, not a scientific reading and not a personal profile. A full Four Pillars (Bazi) chart uses much more than the year animal, including the day, month and hour.

It is also worth knowing where these descriptions come from. The Victoria and Albert Museum notes that assigning personality traits to each sign is a fairly recent development, and that old Chinese texts do not describe the signs this way. For an Ox born in any Year of the Ox, the traits are best read as a traditional way of talking about patience and reliability.

Does the Year of the Ox change birth patterns?

People sometimes ask whether families prefer or avoid certain zodiac years. The evidence is mixed. A 2010 study by Ma Yan in Population Research covering mainland China from 1949 to 2008 found no zodiac birth preference at the national level, and reported that the yearly ups and downs were better explained by population momentum. A different picture appears in Hong Kong, where a 2002 study by Yip, Lee and Cheung, published in Social Science & Medicine, reported that births in Dragon years 1988 and 2000 rose 7.8% and 4.2% over the preceding year. The authors described this as a timing effect with little effect on cumulative fertility. The Dragon example is included only to show how varied the research is, and nothing in it applies to the Ox.

Ox compatibility

In the tradition, compatibility describes patterns between signs, not a score. For the Ox, the commonly listed relationships are:

For the complete picture, including harm, break and punishment tags for every pairing, see the compatibility tool for the Ox.

Year of the Ox and Tai Sui in 2026 and 2027

Tai Sui is a figure in folk belief, and the Kew Ong Yah Temple in Singapore explains that sixty Tai Sui gods take turns by year in the sixty-year Jiazi cycle. Our notes follow the folk year-sign rule used by the Tai Sui checker, which is summarised below.

The Britannica Chinese New Year entry confirms that 2026 is the Year of the Horse. Meeting Tai Sui is a traditional reminder to be steady and considerate, not a forecast about your life.

How to check your Ox year

Start with your birth date and find the Chinese New Year date for that year. If your birthday falls before it, your sign is the one from the previous year. If it falls on or after it, and before the next New Year, your sign is the Ox if that year is an Ox year. Our zodiac finder does this check for you, so you can confirm the sign for any date in seconds.

For daily, weekly or yearly reading material for the Ox, see the Ox horoscope page, the Ox in the 2027 Year of the Goat guide, or the explainer on how Chinese New Year decides your sign.

Frequently asked questions

When does the Year of the Ox start and end?

An Ox year starts on Chinese New Year and ends the day before the next Chinese New Year. For example, the 2021 Ox year runs from Feb 12, 2021 to Jan 31, 2022, and the 2033 Ox year runs from Jan 31, 2033 to Feb 18, 2034. The dates on this page come from the Hong Kong Observatory conversion tables.

I was born on January 25, 2009. Am I an Ox?

No. The 2009 Ox year starts on January 26, 2009, so a birthday on January 25 falls in the previous year's sign, the Rat. Check the Chinese New Year date for your birth year before deciding, and use the zodiac finder on our homepage to confirm.

Are the Year of the Ox personality traits scientifically proven?

No. Steadiness, dependability and patience are traditional cultural associations, not scientific findings. The Victoria and Albert Museum notes that personality descriptions by sign are a fairly recent development. People born in any Year of the Ox can share or lack these traits, just as anyone can.

Does the Year of the Ox affect birth numbers?

The research does not show a clear effect. A 2010 study of mainland China from 1949 to 2008 found no national zodiac birth preference. Other studies, such as the Hong Kong work on Dragon years, show timing effects in specific years but nothing that applies to the Ox specifically.

Which signs are compatible with the Ox?

In the traditional system, the Ox pairs with the Rat as a Six Harmonies or secret friend match, and with the Snake and Rooster as Three Harmonies allies. The Goat is the opposite sign and is listed as a clash. These are patterns from folk tradition rather than scores, and our compatibility tool lists every pairing.

What is the Ox's Tai Sui status in 2026?

In 2026, the Year of the Horse, the traditional year-sign rule for Ox people is Harm (hai). Tai Sui is a folk belief, and meeting it is a traditional reminder to be steady and considerate rather than a prediction. The next relation to watch is in 2027, the Year of the Goat, which carries Clash and Punishment tags.

Sources

• Chinese New Year — Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Chinese calendar — Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table — Hong Kong Observatory
• Right Hall (Tai Sui Xingjun) — Kew Ong Yah Temple, Singapore
• Lunar Year and the Art of Chinese Cosmology — Smith College Museum of Art
• The 12 zodiac animals at the V&A — Victoria and Albert Museum