Earth · Yin
Ox
Brings. Finishes what it starts, without supervision and without complaint.
Struggles with. Immovable once decided, and reads flexibility as weakness.
Neutral
Ox and Tiger
Neutral
68%
No traditional aspect between these signs — neither reinforced nor opposed. What happens depends on the people rather than the pattern.
Wood · Yang
Tiger
Brings. Acts when others hesitate, and inspires people to follow without asking them to.
Struggles with. Burns hot and short. Authority provokes rather than restrains it.
Distance on the wheel1 of 12
RelationNeutral
Same fixed elementNo
How Chinese compatibility works
The rule is positional. Animals four apart form an affinity triangle and are read as natural allies — they share instincts and pace. Animals six apart sit directly opposite and are the traditional clash: each values what the other neglects.
This differs from Western astrology, which uses angles on a 360-degree circle. Here the wheel has twelve positions and the relationships are counted in steps, not degrees.
Traditional pairings sometimes override the geometry — a few combinations are named explicitly as friends or enemies in the old texts, and those take precedence.
Computed from 110 years of real lunar new year dates
The arithmetic behind this pairing
Chinese years run 354 or 384 days, so each animal collects a different number of days across the century — the shares below are not 8.33% each.
Positions apart on the cycle
1
Pairings at this distance
12 of 78
Days assigned to Ox
3,279 · 8.24%
Days assigned to Tiger
3,277 · 8.23%
Share of all pairings
1.356%
1 positions apart · 12 of 78 pairings share that distance · 1.356% of all pairings. Neither trine nor clash, where most pairings sit.
Possible age gaps — fixed by the cycle
Because the animals sit at fixed positions, two people with these signs can only differ in age by certain numbers of years. Not approximately — exactly these:
1
year apart
11
years apart
13
years apart
23
years apart
25
years apart
35
years apart
37
years apart
47
years apart
Recent birth-year combinations
Metal Ox 2021 & Metal Tiger 2010
11 years apart
Metal Ox 2021 & Water Tiger 2022
1 year apart
Earth Ox 2009 & Earth Tiger 1998
11 years apart
Earth Ox 2009 & Metal Tiger 2010
1 year apart
Fire Ox 1997 & Fire Tiger 1986
11 years apart
Fire Ox 1997 & Earth Tiger 1998
1 year apart
Wood Ox 1985 & Wood Tiger 1974
11 years apart
Wood Ox 1985 & Fire Tiger 1986
1 year apart
The five versions of each animal
The animal repeats every 12 years but the element every 60, so each partner comes in five variants — and the combination you actually have is one of 25.
Wood Ox
1985
Fire Ox
1997
Earth Ox
2009
Metal Ox
2021
Water Ox
2033
Fire Tiger
1986
Earth Tiger
1998
Metal Tiger
2010
Water Tiger
2022
Wood Tiger
1974
Birth years for this pairing
⚠️ Each year starts at the lunar new year, not 1 January — if either of you was born in January or early February, check the exact date before trusting the animal.
Ox
1961 · 1973 · 1985 · 1997 · 2009 · 2021Tiger
1962 · 1974 · 1986 · 1998 · 2010 · 2022