Goat Chinese Zodiac Sign
The Goat is the eighth sign of the Chinese zodiac, fixed to the Earth element and classed as Yin. It corresponds to the double-hour of 1 pm to 3 pm, and recent Goat years include 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 and 2027.
| Earthly Branch | Wei (未) |
|---|---|
| Recent and upcoming years | 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027 |
The Goat's name is bound up with a New Year pun: "san yang kai tai," the return of three yang forces bringing a prosperous start, swaps in the near-homophone for goat (yang) as a seasonal greeting, which is part of why the sign carries such a mild, hopeful reputation. English sometimes renders the sign as Sheep or Ram, but folk tradition and almanac writing consistently describe people born under it as gentle, artistic, and inclined to avoid unnecessary conflict.
The Goat's Fixed Element: Earth and Yin
The pun aside, traditional cosmology has its own, unrelated way of fixing the Goat's identity: an element of Earth and a polarity of Yin, assigned permanently to the sign. Unlike this fixed reading, the stem-based element used in the Four Pillars system changes according to each year's heavenly stem, so a Goat year like 1991 need not share its stem element with another Goat year like 2003.
The Goat's Position on the Wheel
The Goat rounds out the Wood frame together with the Rabbit and the Pig, a three-sign harmony set almanacs have long paired for a shared gentleness of temperament. Its Six Harmonies (liu he) counterpart is the Horse, and directly opposite on the wheel sits its clash sign, the Ox — the same steady plodder whose reputation contrasts with the Goat's softer image. These are traditional observations offered as cultural pattern, not rules for anyone's relationships.
What the Goat Sign Means Today
Whether English calls it Goat, Sheep, or Ram, the 'san yang kai tai' pun behind its gentle reputation is wordplay first and character sketch second — worth enjoying at New Year, not applying to any one person born under the sign.
What years are Goat years?
Recent Goat years are 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 and 2027. A zodiac year starts on Chinese New Year, not 1 January, so people born in January or early February may belong to the previous sign, the Horse.
What element is the Goat in the Chinese zodiac?
In the traditional five-elements framework, the Goat is fixed to the Earth element and classed as Yin; the sign is ranked number 8 in the traditional zodiac order and covers the hours of roughly 1–3 pm in the old double-hour system.
Which signs traditionally get along well with the Goat?
Folk tradition groups the Goat with the Rabbit and Pig into what almanacs call the 'Wood frame,' a Three Harmonies (san he) triad, and pairs it specifically with the Horse in a Six Harmonies (liu he) match; these are traditional groupings, not guarantees.
Which sign does the Goat traditionally clash with?
The Goat is traditionally said to clash with the Ox, its opposite on the zodiac wheel; folklore treats this as a point worth being mindful of rather than a fixed outcome.
Zodiac, year pillar (Gānzhī) and na yin element are computed from the lunar calendar with lunar-typescript · Last updated 2026-09-11