Snake Chinese Zodiac Sign
The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese zodiac, fixed to the Fire element and classed as Yin. It corresponds to the double-hour of 9 am to 11 am, and recent Snake years include 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 and 2037.
| Earthly Branch | Si (巳) |
|---|---|
| Recent and upcoming years | 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037 |
Polite speech in some regions calls the Snake "the little dragon," softening an animal that folk tales like the Legend of the White Snake cast as capable of great devotion as well as danger. That mix of intelligence and quiet reserve is what oral tradition and almanac writing lean on when describing people born in Snake years: perceptive, private, and careful about who they let in close.
The Snake's Fixed Element: Fire and Yin
Where the little-dragon nickname stops, traditional cosmology's own bookkeeping starts: the Snake is assigned a fixed element and polarity of Fire and Yin. That fixed reading stays constant from one Snake year to the next, unlike the stem-based element in the Four Pillars system, which shifts with the heavenly stem of the specific year — so 1989 and 2001 are both Snake years but carry different stem elements.
The Snake's Place Among the Twelve Signs
The Snake shares the wheel's Metal frame with the Ox and the Rooster, one of four three-animal harmony sets that almanacs trace back centuries. Tradition singles out the Monkey as the Snake's Six Harmonies (liu he) partner, a pairing said to run unusually smooth, and places the Pig directly opposite it on the wheel as its clash sign. As with every such grouping in the almanac tradition, this is folklore shorthand rather than a verdict on real relationships.
Talking About the Snake Sign Today
The little-dragon nickname softens an animal many cultures treat warily, and that softening is really the whole point: it is a storytelling frame for Snake years, not a claim about any specific person born under the sign.
What years are Snake years?
Recent Snake years are 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 and 2037. 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 Dragon.
What element is the Snake in the Chinese zodiac?
In the traditional five-elements framework, the Snake is fixed to the Fire element and classed as Yin; the sign is ranked number 6 in the traditional zodiac order and covers the hours of roughly 9–11 am in the old double-hour system.
Which signs traditionally get along well with the Snake?
Folk tradition groups the Snake with the Ox and Rooster into what almanacs call the 'Metal frame,' a Three Harmonies (san he) triad, and pairs it specifically with the Monkey in a Six Harmonies (liu he) match; these are traditional groupings, not guarantees.
Which sign does the Snake traditionally clash with?
The Snake is traditionally said to clash with the Pig, 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