What Chinese Zodiac Is 2010? Year of the Metal Tiger

2010 Lunar New Year: start and end dates

Lunar New Year opened the Metal Tiger year on February 14, 2010, and the year ran to February 2, 2011. So a birth date of Feb 14, 2010 or later counts as Metal Tiger, and so do early 2011 birthdays through Feb 2; births in 2010 before Feb 14 still belong to the Earth Ox. That moving boundary comes from the lunisolar calendar, in which the new year starts with the second new moon after the winter solstice in most years, so its Gregorian date shifts by up to a month from one year to the next. Look sixty years either side and the pairing repeats: 1950 are Metal Tiger years too. That Sunday new year arrived with the Sun in Aquarius in the Western zodiac.

What the Metal Tiger is like

When Metal meets the Tiger, the result is said to be a champion with a blade's edge. The controlling relationship disciplines the Tiger's expansive nature into determined, conviction-driven energy. People born in this year are often formidable advocates. Seeking other perspectives before acting, and choosing battles carefully, help keep that intensity from turning into tunnel vision. Their loyalty to a cause can be extraordinary.

Belonging to the west and to the clear, cool air of autumn, Metal adds edge, resolve and structure to any sign it colours. Classical texts connect it with righteousness, strength of will and the ability to see a situation without sentiment. A Metal stem often makes an animal more ambitious, more organised and more self-contained than usual. People born in Metal years are frequently described as loyal to their word and tireless once committed. The caution most readings add is a hardness that can isolate them, along with perfectionism and a reluctance to admit doubt or ask for help.

2010 in the animal cycle and in numerology

In numerology the digits of this year reduce to 3, associated with expression, creativity and sociability, so a 3 year is described as lively and communicative. The digits of 2010 add up to 3. The Tiger holds the third place among the twelve animals and its fixed element is Wood. Set beside the year's Metal stem, metal controls Wood, which readings use to describe how settled or stretched the combination feels. The year before was the Earth Ox and the year after is the Metal Rabbit.

Chinese almanacs name 2010 Geng-Yin, pairing the Metal stem Geng with the branch Yin. Both are Yang, as stem and branch always share a polarity, so of the hundred and twenty possible pairings only sixty ever occur, and each one names a single year in every cycle.