Loyal, honest and protective: the eleventh animal of the Chinese zodiac, and the sign of the year that begins on 3 February 2030.
- Recent Dog years
- 2006 · 2018 · 2030
- Next Dog year begins
- 3 February 2030
- Fixed element
- Earth (yang)
- Best matches
- Tiger · Horse · Rabbit
- Clashes with
- Dragon
- The Dog’s hours
- 7 pm – 9 pm (戌时 xūshí)
Are you a Dog?
The zodiac year doesn’t start on 1 January. It starts at Chinese New Year, which falls anywhere from 21 January to 20 February. So if you were born in January or February, your birth year alone can’t tell you your animal. Enter your full date of birth for the exact answer.
Every Year of the Dog, with exact dates
| Year | Chinese name | Element | Begins | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | 壬戌 rénxū | Water Dog | 28 Jan 1922 | 15 Feb 1923 |
| 1934 | 甲戌 jiǎxū | Wood Dog | 14 Feb 1934 | 3 Feb 1935 |
| 1946 | 丙戌 bǐngxū | Fire Dog | 2 Feb 1946 | 21 Jan 1947 |
| 1958 | 戊戌 wùxū | Earth Dog | 18 Feb 1958 | 7 Feb 1959 |
| 1970 | 庚戌 gēngxū | Metal Dog | 6 Feb 1970 | 26 Jan 1971 |
| 1982 | 壬戌 rénxū | Water Dog | 25 Jan 1982 | 12 Feb 1983 |
| 1994 | 甲戌 jiǎxū | Wood Dog | 10 Feb 1994 | 30 Jan 1995 |
| 2006 | 丙戌 bǐngxū | Fire Dog | 29 Jan 2006 | 17 Feb 2007 |
| 2018 | 戊戌 wùxū | Earth Dog | 16 Feb 2018 | 4 Feb 2019 |
| 2030 | 庚戌 gēngxū | Metal Dog | 3 Feb 2030 | 22 Jan 2031 |
| 2042 | 壬戌 rénxū | Water Dog | 22 Jan 2042 | 9 Feb 2043 |
Dates follow the lunar calendar’s New Year, the convention used for the zodiac in everyday Chinese life. Some fortune-tellers instead start the year at 立春 (lìchūn, Start of Spring, around 4 February), so a few early-February birthdays get read differently. In 2030 the two fall just one day apart: New Year on 3 February, 立春 on the 4th.
How to write 狗, and why the oldest dog is 犬
狗 (gǒu) is the zodiac’s character, but it isn’t the dog’s oldest name. On Shang-dynasty oracle bones the dog is 犬 (quǎn): a lean animal turned on end, head at the top, legs to one side and a tail curling up at the bottom. 狗 arrives later as a two-part character, the dog radical 犭 (the side form of 犬) for meaning and 句 (gōu) for sound. The Shuowen Jiezi quotes Confucius: “look at the character 犬 and it is like a picture of a dog.” Some old commentaries say 犬 was the big dog and 狗 the small one, but the two words blurred together long ago.
8 strokes · the dog radical 犭 first, then 句: the slanting stroke, the hooked frame, and the small 口 last
From 犬 to 狗: 3,000 years of the dog, in four steps
Oracle bone 犬Shang dynasty, c. 1250 BCE
Bronze 犬Zhou dynasty, c. 1000 BCE
Small seal 狗Qin dynasty, 221 BCE- 狗TodaySame in simplified and traditional
Ancient forms: public-domain drawings from the Ancient Chinese Characters project on Wikimedia Commons.
Six characters built from 犬
狗 itself rarely turns up inside other characters, but its ancestor 犬 does, either whole or squeezed into the side form 犭. Sometimes the dog is the whole idea, and sometimes it simply marks an animal. Tap the speaker to hear each one.
Want the system behind cards like these? Read how Chinese characters actually work and the stroke order rules, look up 狗 gǒu in the dictionary, then practise 狗 on the free writing practice board.
狗 or 犬: two words for one dog
The zodiac Dog is 狗 (gǒu), the word every Chinese child learns first. But the older word is 犬 (quǎn), the one Shang scribes carved on oracle bones. Over the centuries 狗 took over everyday speech, and 犬 retreated into formal and technical words, much as English keeps “canine” beside “dog”. If you see 犬, you are usually reading something official, or a breed name.
小狗
xiǎogǒu
Puppy, or any small dog. The everyday word.
狗狗
gǒugou
Doggy. Doubling the word makes it affectionate, the way children and pet owners talk.
警犬
jǐngquǎn
Police dog. Literally “police 犬”: working dogs keep the formal word.
导盲犬
dǎomángquǎn
Guide dog. Literally “lead-the-blind 犬”.
Two more things trip learners up. Japanese uses 犬 (inu) as its everyday word for dog, so readers who know Japanese often expect 犬 on Chinese zodiac cards. And in everyday Chinese, 狗 turns up in a few harsh insults. The zodiac Dog carries none of that: as a sign it stands for loyalty.
The Dog personality
Zodiac personalities are folk tradition, not science, and Chinese people treat them much the way others treat star signs: half seriously, often with a smile. Still, the character traditionally given to people born in the Year of the Dog is consistent across the almanacs and guides. It’s the zodiac’s faithful guardian.
Loyal
zhōngchéng. The Dog’s defining trait. Once you’re a friend, you’re a friend for life, through good fortune and bad.
Honest
chéngshí. Dogs say what they mean and expect the same in return. Flattery doesn’t get far with them.
Principled
zhèngzhí. A strong sense of right and wrong, and the first to speak up when something is unfair.
Dependable
kěkào. Responsible and steady, the person you call in a crisis because you know they’ll come.
And the other side
Stubborn
gùzhí. Once a Dog has decided what’s right, changing its mind takes a great deal of patience.
Blunt
xīn zhí kǒu kuài. An idiom for “a straight heart and a quick mouth”: honest to a fault, and not always tactful.
Slow to warm up
mànrè. Wary of strangers. Dogs watch for a while before they trust, and newcomers can find them reserved.
Anxious
jiāolǜ. Always on guard for the people it loves, the Dog is said to find it hard to switch off and let worries go.
Lucky things, by tradition
Almanacs don’t fully agree on the Dog’s lucky charms, and we’d rather show you that than pretend otherwise. Here is what the major sources share, and where they split.
| Lucky | What the sources say | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| Numbers | 3, 4 and 9 in the major English-language guides; some Chinese almanacs list 2 and 3 instead | Mostly |
| Flowers | Rose and cymbidium orchid, with oncidium added in some lists | Agreed |
| Colours | Red and purple in most guides, plus green, yellow or pink depending on the source; one Chinese almanac gives blue, gold and green | Disputed |
| Numbers to avoid | 1, 6 and 7 | Agreed |
Which Dog are you? The five elements
Every animal returns once every 12 years, but it pairs with each of the five elements only once every 60. So a 1970 Dog and a 2030 Dog share both animal and element: both are Metal Dogs.
甲戌 jiǎxū · 1934 · 1994
The Wood Dog is said to be the most easy-going Dog: sincere, patient and understanding. Its traditional strength is a talent for working with others without losing its principles.
丙戌 bǐngxū · 1946 · 2006
The Fire Dog is the liveliest Dog: clever, hard-working and warm, with more charm than its cautious cousins. Its traditional challenge is to keep its quick temper in check.
戊戌 wùxū · 1958 · 2018
Earth is the Dog’s own fixed element, so the Earth Dog is the steadiest: serious, responsible and fair-minded at work. It’s said to be the Dog people trust with anything.
庚戌 gēngxū · 1970 · 2030
The Metal Dog is said to be the most determined Dog: careful, principled and fiercely loyal, always ready to help. Its traditional caution is not to see the world too strictly in black and white. 2030 is a Metal Dog year.
壬戌 rénxū · 1922 · 1982 · 2042
The Water Dog is the boldest Dog: brave, independent and shrewd with money. Its traditional weakness is putting its own plans first, which can look selfish to others.
Dog compatibility
Zodiac compatibility isn’t a list of opinions. It’s geometry. Place the twelve animals around a circle, and the classic matches form fixed shapes: triangles of allies, pairs of secret friends, and opposites that clash. Here is the Dog’s position.
- Best: Tiger 虎 and Horse 马The Three Harmonies (三合 sānhé), the green triangle. These three are said to share courage and a strong sense of fairness, and tradition rates them the happiest pairing for friendship, business or marriage.
- Secret friend: Rabbit 兔The Six Harmonies (六合 liùhé), the gold line. The gentle Rabbit is said to ease the Dog’s worries, while the Dog gives the Rabbit a steady protector.
- Clash: Dragon 龙The Six Conflicts (六冲 liùchōng), straight across the circle. Tradition pits the Dragon’s grand ambitions against the Dog’s down-to-earth sense of duty.
- Friction: Rooster 鸡The Six Harms (六害 liùhài), the dashed line. A milder mismatch: the Rooster’s frank criticism and the Dog’s sharp sense of fairness can rub each other the wrong way.
See the other pairings from each side: the Tiger, the Horse, the Rabbit and the Dragon.
The Dog in Chinese culture
天狗 The dog that eats the moon
tiāngǒu. In folk belief an eclipse was the heavenly dog swallowing the sun or the moon, and people beat gongs and drums to make it let go. The saying 天狗吃月亮 (tiāngǒu chī yuèliang, “the heavenly dog eats the moon”) still describes a lunar eclipse. The 天狗 of the ancient Classic of Mountains and Seas was a different creature, a white-headed beast said to ward off harm.
鸡犬升天 Even the chickens and dogs
yī rén dé dào, jī quǎn shēng tiān. “When one person attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs rise to heaven.” Legend says that when Liu An, Prince of Huainan, became an immortal, his chickens and dogs ate the leftover elixir and followed him up; Ge Hong’s Biographies of Divine Immortals tells the story. Today it describes a successful person’s circle sharing the rewards, usually with a raised eyebrow. One of many Chinese idioms with the old word 犬.
狗拿耗子 A dog catching mice
gǒu ná hàozi, duō guǎn xiánshì. A 歇后语 (xiēhòuyǔ), a two-part saying whose second half is often left unsaid: a dog catching mice is “poking its nose into other people’s business”, because mousing is the cat’s job. Say just the first half and any Chinese speaker will finish it in their head.
狗不嫌家贫 Loyal through hard times
gǒu bù xián jiā pín. “A dog never minds that its home is poor.” Usually heard as the second half of 儿不嫌母丑，狗不嫌家贫 (“a child never minds a plain mother, a dog never minds a poor home”), it is an old folk saying about loyalty that doesn’t depend on fortune. It sums up exactly what tradition admires in the zodiac Dog.
Famous people born in the Year of the Dog
Dog years have given the world a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, two of rock’s greatest stars and a Grand Slam tennis champion. Here are nine people born in the Year of the Dog, across all five elements.
- Chen Ning Yang 杨振宁Nobel Prize-winning physicist, born in HefeiBorn 1 Oct 1922 · Water Dog
- Jane GoodallPrimatologist and conservationist, EnglandBorn 3 Apr 1934 · Wood Dog
- Elvis PresleySinger and actor, United StatesBorn 8 Jan 1935 · Wood DogBorn 27 days before Chinese New Year 1935, so many lists get this one wrong
- David BowieSinger and songwriter, EnglandBorn 8 Jan 1947 · Fire DogBorn 14 days before Chinese New Year 1947, so many lists get this one wrong
- Wong Kar-wai 王家卫Film director, Hong KongBorn 17 Jul 1958 · Earth Dog
- MadonnaSinger and songwriter, United StatesBorn 16 Aug 1958 · Earth Dog
- Matt DamonActor and screenwriter, United StatesBorn 8 Oct 1970 · Metal Dog
- Li Na 李娜Tennis champion, WuhanBorn 26 Feb 1982 · Water Dog
- Lang Lang 郎朗Concert pianist, ShenyangBorn 14 Jun 1982 · Water Dog
We checked each full date of birth against the exact Chinese New Year date of that year, so January and early-February birthdays such as Elvis Presley’s and David Bowie’s are placed in the right sign.
The Year of the Metal Dog, 2030
The Metal Dog year, 庚戌年 (gēngxū nián), runs from 3 February 2030 to 22 January 2031. Metal is said to sharpen the Dog’s sense of duty, so tradition reads 2030 as a year for keeping promises, standing by friends and finishing what you start. For how the festival itself is celebrated, from the reunion dinner to the lanterns, see our guide to the Spring Festival.
běnmìngnián, “your own zodiac year”. If you were born in a Dog year (2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970…), 2030 is your 本命年. Tradition says it’s a year to be careful, so many people wear something red all year round, often red socks, a red string bracelet or red underwear, which shops sell in a rush before every New Year.
Talk about your sign in Mandarin
Asking someone’s zodiac animal is one of the most natural small-talk questions in Chinese, and a polite way to guess an age without asking. Here is the whole conversation.
我属狗
wǒ shǔ gǒu
“I’m a Dog,” literally “I belong to the dog”.
你属什么？
nǐ shǔ shénme?
“What’s your zodiac sign?”
你也属狗吗？
nǐ yě shǔ gǒu ma?
“Are you a Dog too?”
今年是我的本命年。
jīnnián shì wǒ de běnmìngnián.
“This year is my zodiac year.”
Common misunderstandings
- “I was born on 1 February 1983, so I’m a Pig.” Not quite: the Pig year only began on 13 February 1983, so you’re a Water Dog. Check any date with the tool above.
- “A Dog and a Dragon can never be together.” The Dragon is the Dog’s traditional clash sign (辰戌相冲 chén xū xiāng chōng), but that is one line of folk compatibility, not a ban. Even fortune-tellers who take it seriously weigh the whole birth chart, not just the year animal.
- “The zodiac Dog is written 犬.” In the zodiac it’s 狗, with 戌 (xū) as its Earthly Branch. 犬 is the older, formal word, and the everyday word in Japanese, which is where the confusion often starts.
- Mixing up 戌, 戍 and 戊. 戌 xū, the Dog’s branch, has a short horizontal inside; 戍 shù, “to guard”, has a dot; 戊 wù, the fifth Heavenly Stem, has nothing inside. The last Earth Dog year, 2018, was 戊戌, so two of them sit side by side.
Quick quiz
1. Which character did Shang-dynasty scribes use for “dog” on the oracle bones?
2. Which sign is the Dog’s Six Harmonies “secret friend”?
3. What does the saying 狗拿耗子 (a dog catching mice) describe?
FAQs
The Year of the Dog comes round every 12 years: 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 and 2030. Each one starts at Chinese New Year rather than on 1 January. The next begins on 3 February 2030 and runs to 22 January 2031.
Yes. 2030 is a Metal Dog year (庚戌 gēngxū). It begins on 3 February 2030. Anyone born between 1 January and 2 February 2030 is still a Rooster, the sign of the year before.
Both mean dog. 犬 (quǎn) is the older word, found on Shang-dynasty oracle bones, while 狗 (gǒu) became the everyday word and is the one used for the zodiac. 犬 survives in formal and technical words such as 警犬 (jǐngquǎn, police dog).
Traditionally the Tiger and the Horse, which form the Three Harmonies (三合) with the Dog, and the Rabbit, its Six Harmonies (六合) partner. The Dragon is the Dog’s clash sign, sitting directly opposite on the zodiac wheel.
The major guides give 3, 4 and 9 as the Dog’s lucky numbers and 1, 6 and 7 as numbers to avoid, with roses and cymbidium orchids as its flowers. Colours vary most: red and purple are the commonest picks, with green, yellow or pink added depending on the source. These are folk associations, so treat them as tradition rather than rules.
The Dog’s fixed element is Earth, and it’s a yang sign. Each Dog year also carries a rotating element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water), set by the year’s heavenly stem. 2030 is Metal, 2018 was Earth and 2006 was Fire.
In the legend of the Great Race, the Jade Emperor ranked the animals by the order they crossed a great river. The Dog was one of the best swimmers, but in the most common versions it stopped to play and bathe in the clean water, and came in eleventh, just ahead of the Pig. Read the whole story on our Chinese zodiac guide.
Say 我属狗 (wǒ shǔ gǒu), literally “I belong to the dog”. To ask someone else, say 你属什么？ (nǐ shǔ shénme?), “What’s your sign?”. It’s a polite, roundabout way to guess someone’s age, since the answer narrows it to every 12 years.
Say “我属狗” like a native
The zodiac is one of the easiest conversations to start in Mandarin. Learn the words, the tones and the stories behind them in 1-on-1 online lessons with a native speaker.
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