Fire · Yin
Snake
Brings. Reads situations accurately and says nothing until saying something helps.
Struggles with. Keeps its own counsel to the point where nobody knows where they stand.
Sextile — easy
Snake and Rabbit
Sextile — easy
78%
Two apart. Comfortable and cooperative without being identical.
Wood · Yin
Rabbit
Brings. Keeps the peace intelligently and notices what everyone needs before it is said.
Struggles with. Avoids confrontation past the point of usefulness, and withdraws instead of arguing.
Distance on the wheel2 of 12
RelationSextile — easy
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
2
Pairings at this distance
12 of 78
Days assigned to Snake
3,277 · 8.23%
Days assigned to Rabbit
3,278 · 8.23%
Share of all pairings
1.355%
2 positions apart · 12 of 78 pairings share that distance · 1.355% 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:
2
years apart
10
years apart
14
years apart
22
years apart
26
years apart
34
years apart
38
years apart
46
years apart
Recent birth-year combinations
Wood Snake 2025 & Water Rabbit 2023
2 years apart
Water Snake 2013 & Metal Rabbit 2011
2 years apart
Water Snake 2013 & Water Rabbit 2023
10 years apart
Metal Snake 2001 & Earth Rabbit 1999
2 years apart
Metal Snake 2001 & Metal Rabbit 2011
10 years apart
Earth Snake 1989 & Fire Rabbit 1987
2 years apart
Earth Snake 1989 & Earth Rabbit 1999
10 years apart
Fire Snake 1977 & Wood Rabbit 1975
2 years 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.
Earth Snake
1989
Metal Snake
2001
Water Snake
2013
Wood Snake
2025
Fire Snake
1977
Fire Rabbit
1987
Earth Rabbit
1999
Metal Rabbit
2011
Water Rabbit
2023
Wood Rabbit
1975
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.
Snake
1965 · 1977 · 1989 · 2001 · 2013 · 2025Rabbit
1963 · 1975 · 1987 · 1999 · 2011 · 2023