Chinese zodiac · the twelve-place cycle
What is the Chinese zodiac order?
The 12 Chinese zodiac animals go in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (or Sheep/Ram), Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Pig is position 12; the next turn returns to Rat at position 1. The order is a repeating cycle, not a ranking of which animal is better.
The 12 animals, numbered
Use the position numbers to follow the sequence. We show “Goat” in the quick list, while noting the common English labels “Sheep” and “Ram” at the same eighth place. Changing the English label does not move that place in the cycle.
| Position | Animal | Next animal |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rat | Ox |
| 2 | Ox | Tiger |
| 3 | Tiger | Rabbit |
| 4 | Rabbit | Dragon |
| 5 | Dragon | Snake |
| 6 | Snake | Horse |
| 7 | Horse | Goat / Sheep / Ram |
| 8 | Goat / Sheep / Ram | Monkey |
| 9 | Monkey | Rooster |
| 10 | Rooster | Dog |
| 11 | Dog | Pig |
| 12 | Pig | Rat — start again |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes this conventional order and says it was established by the Eastern Han period. Its collection includes a Tang-dynasty set of twelve zodiac figures. The museum's label uses ram for the eighth animal; English charts may say goat or sheep.
How to use the order without a full year chart
- Find your starting animal. Locate it in the numbered table above.
- Move one place per zodiac year. For example, Horse is seventh, so the next animal is Goat at eighth, then Monkey at ninth.
- Wrap after Pig. Pig at twelfth is followed by Rat at first. Moving 12 positions brings you back to the same animal.
This is a sequence lookup. It does not tell you which animal applies to a January or February birthday. A Chinese zodiac year begins at its calendar boundary, not automatically on January 1. If you are checking a birth date, use our date calculator. If you want a dated list of years and elements, see the years and elements chart.
Why is Rat first and Pig last?
A familiar Great Race legend tells the order as a story, often with Rat using Ox's help and arriving first. It is a way people remember the sequence. Retellings differ in their details, so the story should not be treated as a dated historical record of how the system was invented. The museum's evidence establishes that the conventional order was already in use by the Eastern Han period; it does not make one version of the race a verified origin event. For the Cat episode and its conflicting endings, read our side-by-side comparison of Great Race stories.
The useful distinction is simple: the animal order is a calendar convention; the race is a folk explanation of it. You can use the order without accepting the legend as literal history.
Questions readers ask
What are the Chinese zodiac animals in order?
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat/Sheep/Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Then the cycle repeats with Rat.
What comes after the Pig in the Chinese zodiac?
Rat. Pig is the twelfth position in a cycle, so the next turn returns to position one.
Is Goat different from Sheep in the eighth position?
No separate thirteenth animal is added. Goat, sheep and ram are English renderings you may encounter for the same eighth place in an animal-order chart.
Does the order tell me my sign from my Gregorian birth year alone?
Only after you check which Chinese zodiac year contains your birthday. January and February birthdays can fall before that year's lunar new year. Enter the full Gregorian date in the calculator rather than assigning an animal from January 1.
Is the Great Race the proven origin of the order?
No. It is a legend that helps explain or remember the list. The historical record and the story answer different questions.
Sources and method
The Met collection record supplies the historical order and its Eastern Han dating. The British Museum's zodiac object record provides another museum example of the named animal sequence. The Smithsonian is cited for the Great Race as folklore, not for a documented origin date. The numbered next-animal table, wraparound diagram, worked navigation examples and boundary decision path here are our own arrangement of those facts. This page does not infer personality, predict outcomes, or calculate Four Pillars.
Watch the order move
The short video follows the numbered sequence and shows why Pig returns to Rat. Play the on-site video or watch it on YouTube.