What Chinese Zodiac Is 2018? Year of the Earth Dog

2018 Lunar New Year: start and end dates

Lunar New Year opened the Earth Dog year on February 16, 2018, and the year ran to February 4, 2019. So a birth date of Feb 16, 2018 or later counts as Earth Dog, and so do early 2019 birthdays through Feb 4; births in 2018 before Feb 16 still belong to the Fire Rooster. 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: 1958 are Earth Dog years too. That Friday new year arrived with the Sun in Aquarius in the Western zodiac.

What the Earth Dog is like

Doubled Earth gives this Dog year a reputation for bedrock reliability. Those born now are pictured as responsible, consistent and protective, often excelling in stewardship roles. They keep commitments carefully. Readings suggest questioning worried thoughts, asking for support as readily as they give it and making regular room for lighthearted fun. Friendships with them often last a lifetime, built on trust that grows slowly and holds firm.

In classical thought, Earth belongs to the centre and to the late-summer pause between seasons, the point where things ripen and settle. As a year stem, it tends to slow an animal down in a useful way, adding prudence, loyalty and a strong sense of responsibility. People born under an Earth stem are often described as dependable, sensible and protective of the people they love. They value security and tend to build carefully. The caution traditionally attached to Earth is caution itself: overthinking, clinging to the familiar and carrying other people's problems as though they were their own.

2018 in the animal cycle and in numerology

In numerology the digits of this year add up to 11, a master number kept whole, linked with intuition, inspiration and nervous intensity. The digits of 2018 add up to 11. The Dog holds the eleventh place among the twelve animals and its fixed element is Earth. Set beside the year's Earth stem, earth year element matches the fixed element, which readings use to describe how settled or stretched the combination feels. The year before was the Fire Rooster and the year after is the Earth Pig.

Chinese almanacs name 2018 Wu-Xu, pairing the Earth stem Wu with the branch Xu. 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.