Rat in 2026
2026 is a Horse year. Rat and Horse occupy branches 子 and 午.
Six Clashes · 六冲. Rat (子) stands six positions opposite Horse (午), the contrast called a Six Clash in the traditional pairing.
Read Rat with Horse →Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water Rat
Wood Rat
Years: 1924, 1984, 2044.
The Rat's Water nourishes Wood, carrying its traditional resourcefulness toward growth, new connections and the development of an idea. The Wood Rat reading highlights an ability to bring people and useful information together, with the temptation to keep too many promising possibilities open at the same time.
Wood Rat birth dates and next year →Fire Rat
Years: 1936, 1996.
The Rat's Water controls Fire, placing its watchful nature in tension with the year element's impulse toward visible expression. In the Fire Rat reading, quick assessment meets an urge to participate, creating a lively persuader who can alternate between taking the opening and checking what has been left exposed.
Fire Rat birth dates and next year →Earth Rat
Years: 1948, 2008.
Earth controls the Rat's Water, giving its traditional adaptability a stronger concern with limits, continuity and the protection of resources. The Earth Rat reading emphasizes preparation and careful use of what is already available, with reluctance to abandon a workable arrangement merely because a new possibility appears.
Earth Rat birth dates and next year →Metal Rat
Years: 1960, 2020.
Metal generates the Rat's Water, supporting the sign's traditional alertness and ability to find a way through changing circumstances. The Metal Rat reading gives that resourcefulness a sharper purpose, describing close attention to useful details, a firm negotiating position and determination to preserve room for independent action.
Metal Rat birth dates and next year →Water Rat
Years: 1912, 1972, 2032.
Water joins the Rat's own element, concentrating the traditional themes of observation, adaptability and attention to the movement around it. This reading presents the Water Rat as responsive to subtle changes and skilled at finding alternatives, with a tendency to revisit decisions while further possibilities remain in view.
Water Rat birth dates and next year →Rat personality traits
The Rat's traditional portrait begins with alertness: it notices an opening, remembers a useful detail and makes the most of what is available. It is resourceful in unfamiliar surroundings and quick to adjust when circumstances change. The same watchfulness can become restlessness or an unwillingness to let a possibility go. Its characteristic skill is assembling small advantages into a workable answer, with caution about trusting what it has not examined.
Rat: best and difficult matches
Ox: Rat (子) and Ox (丑) form one of the six fixed harmony pairs, traditionally read as a complementary connection.
Dragon: Rat and Dragon share the Water trine; Monkey completes their three-animal group.
Horse: Rat (子) stands six positions opposite Horse (午), the contrast called a Six Clash in the traditional pairing.
Monkey: Rat and Monkey share the Water trine; Dragon completes their three-animal group.
All twelve Rat compatibility pairings →Five forms · one twelve-day rhythm
The next Rat days
The branch repeats every twelve days. Its stem advances too, so these five occurrences have five different stem elements before the complete name repeats after sixty days. The Rat branch itself keeps Water.
Yang Metal
23 September 2026
Yang Metal Rat · 庚子
Na Yin: Wall Earth · 壁上土
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Water
5 October 2026
Yang Water Rat · 壬子
Na Yin: Mulberry Wood · 桑柘木
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Wood
17 October 2026
Yang Wood Rat · 甲子
Na Yin: Sea Metal · 海中金
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Fire
29 October 2026
Yang Fire Rat · 丙子
Na Yin: Ravine Water · 涧下水
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Earth
10 November 2026
Yang Earth Rat · 戊子
Na Yin: Thunderbolt Fire · 霹雳火
Open this date’s planning window →
The Na Yin name belongs to the complete pillar. It is a separate pairing from the stem’s element and the branch’s fixed element.
Chinese New Year to the final lunar day
Rat years and their exact boundaries
Use the interval, not just the Gregorian year number, for a birthday near January or February. A full Rat element-name returns sixty years later; the animal alone returns after twelve.
壬子 · Yang Water Rat
1912 Rat year
18 February 1912 through 5 February 1913
甲子 · Yang Wood Rat
1924 Rat year
5 February 1924 through 23 January 1925
丙子 · Yang Fire Rat
1936 Rat year
24 January 1936 through 10 February 1937
戊子 · Yang Earth Rat
1948 Rat year
10 February 1948 through 28 January 1949
庚子 · Yang Metal Rat
1960 Rat year
28 January 1960 through 14 February 1961
壬子 · Yang Water Rat
1972 Rat year
15 February 1972 through 2 February 1973
甲子 · Yang Wood Rat
1984 Rat year
2 February 1984 through 19 February 1985
丙子 · Yang Fire Rat
1996 Rat year
19 February 1996 through 6 February 1997
戊子 · Yang Earth Rat
2008 Rat year
7 February 2008 through 25 January 2009
庚子 · Yang Metal Rat
2020 Rat year
25 January 2020 through 11 February 2021
壬子 · Yang Water Rat
2032 Rat year
11 February 2032 through 30 January 2033
甲子 · Yang Wood Rat
2044 Rat year
30 January 2044 through 16 February 2045
Solar month · clock period
The Rat month and double-hour
Winter branch month
Major Snow opens the Rat month at 7 December 2026, 10:52:32 UTC+8. It runs until Minor Cold at 5 January 2027, 22:09:58 UTC+8.
These are solar-term instants, not the first days of numbered lunar months.
Follow the whole winter season →23:00–00:59
The Rat double-hour occupies position 1 in the twelve-branch clock. Rat begins at 23:00 and continues across midnight until 01:00; the minute labels above end at 00:59. A double-hour label describes a time of day; it does not determine the year or day animal.
The sets containing Rat
Harmony, season, trine and clash
Six Harmonies
Paired branches
This is a fixed two-branch pairing.
Three Harmonies · trines
Water
These three animals form the full set; two animals show shared membership.
Three Meetings · seasons
Winter · Water
These three animals form the full set; two animals show shared membership.
Six Clashes
Opposite branches
This is a fixed two-branch pairing.
The stems held inside Rat
primary layer
Guǐ · 癸
Yin Water
Hidden stems are attached to the branch. The visible stem on a particular Rat day is the first character of that day’s two-character name.