In love
The Rabbit is tender, devoted and romantic, and it wants harmony more than drama. It suits a patient, considerate partner; loud arguments and unpredictability wear it out quickly.
Animal 4 of 12 · Wood · Yin
Chinese zodiac Rabbit
The Rabbit is the fourth animal of the Chinese zodiac — wood, yin. Its traditional traits are tact, refinement and avoidance of unnecessary conflict.
- Element
- Wood
- Polarity
- Yin
- Hours
- 5–7 AM
- Lucky numbers
- 3, 4, 6
Character
Rabbit personality
The Rabbit is the animal of grace. Tradition reads it as gentle, kind, elegant and diplomatic — someone who smooths tension, notices beauty and makes a home feel calm. Rabbits are perceptive and quietly clever, and they prefer to win people over rather than overpower them.
Their difficulty is conflict. Rabbits can be cautious to the point of timidity, avoid hard conversations and hesitate over decisions, and they may retreat when a situation turns rough. Under the softness there is often more resilience than they show, but they need a safe base to use it.
- Strength. Keeps the peace intelligently and notices what everyone needs before it is said.
- Friction. Avoids confrontation past the point of usefulness, and withdraws instead of arguing.
Traits
Diplomatic Cautious Artistic Conflict-averse KindSeasonSpring
MonthMarch
Lucky colorspink, purple, blue
Each animal also governs two hours of the day — the Rabbit holds 5–7 AM. Someone born in those hours is said to carry the Rabbit as an inner sign regardless of their year.
Work and money
Rabbits are drawn to art, design, writing, diplomacy, counseling, education and work that needs tact. With money they are careful and sensible, preferring security to big gambles.
Health and pace
The traditional advice for the Rabbit is about stress: it absorbs other people's tension. Quiet routines and enough sleep keep it steady.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Primary source
The rabbit in a Chinese text of about AD 80
“Wu is connected with the horse, Tse with the rat, Yu with the cock, and Mao with the hare.”
“Metal is stronger than wood, why does the cock not eat the hare?”
Wang Chong, Lun-hêng, “The Nature of Things”, translated by Alfred Forke, Lun-hêng, Part I: Philosophical Essays of Wang Chʻung (1907), pp. 105–106 — read the original text.
Wang Chong already pairs the earthly branches with the animals still used today — and lists them to argue against the idea that animals fight because of their elements. The sheep of his text is the goat of the modern zodiac, the boar its pig.
Rabbit years
| Year | Element | New year began |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Earth Rabbit | February 19 |
| 1951 | Metal Rabbit | February 6 |
| 1963 | Water Rabbit | January 25 |
| 1975 | Wood Rabbit | February 11 |
| 1987 | Fire Rabbit | January 29 |
| 1999 | Earth Rabbit | February 16 |
| 2011 | Metal Rabbit | February 3 |
| 2023 | Water Rabbit | January 22 |
Born in January or early February of one of these years? Check the new year date — you may belong to the previous animal.
The 9 Rabbit years in the table began as early as January 22 2023 and as late as February 19 1939 — a window of 28 days. Anyone born in 1939 before February 19 is still a Tiger.
The five Rabbits
The Rabbit's own fixed element is Wood. The element of the year interacts with it differently each time, which is what separates the five versions — and why the cycle runs sixty years.
| Version | Years | Relation to Wood |
|---|---|---|
| Fire Rabbit | 1927, 1987 | Drains it — productive but costly |
| Earth Rabbit | 1939, 1999 | Dominated by it — most forceful |
| Metal Rabbit | 1951, 2011 | Controls it — most restrained |
| Water Rabbit | 1963, 2023 | Feeds it — best supported |
| Wood Rabbit | 1975, 2035 | Doubled — strongest expression |
Calculated from the lunar calendar
Not every Rabbit year is the same length
The 9 Rabbit years from 1927 to 2023 last anywhere from 354 to 384 days, so the window for being born under the sign is wider in some years than in others. Three of them have a thirteenth, leap month.
| Year | From | To | Days | Lunar months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Feb 2, 1927 | Jan 22, 1928 | 355 | 12 |
| 1939 | Feb 19, 1939 | Feb 7, 1940 | 354 | 12 |
| 1951 | Feb 6, 1951 | Jan 26, 1952 | 355 | 12 |
| 1963 | Jan 25, 1963 | Feb 12, 1964 | 384 | 13 — leap year |
| 1975 | Feb 11, 1975 | Jan 30, 1976 | 354 | 12 |
| 1987 | Jan 29, 1987 | Feb 16, 1988 | 384 | 13 — leap year |
| 1999 | Feb 16, 1999 | Feb 4, 2000 | 354 | 12 |
| 2011 | Feb 3, 2011 | Jan 22, 2012 | 354 | 12 |
| 2023 | Jan 22, 2023 | Feb 9, 2024 | 384 | 13 — leap year |
Average length
364.2 days
Longest
1963 — 384 days
Shortest
1939 — 354 days
Difference
30 days
Why some years get a leap month: the calendar adds one seven times every nineteen years to stay in step with the seasons. How the lunar year is built →
The next Rabbit year is 2035
By tradition a Rabbit treads carefully in its own year rather than celebrating it. Why your own animal's year is considered unlucky.
Rabbit compatibility
| With | Relation | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Goat | Trine — natural allies | 90% |
| Pig | Trine — natural allies | 90% |
| Dog | Six harmonies — secret friends | 88% |
| Rabbit | Same sign | 72% |
| Ox | Neutral | 68% |
| Tiger | Neutral | 68% |
| Snake | Neutral | 68% |
| Horse | Neutral | 68% |
| Monkey | Neutral | 68% |
| Rat | Punishment | 58% |
| Dragon | Six harms | 55% |
| Rooster | Clash | 45% |
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Zodiac Rabbit: Years, Traits and Compatibility.” Accessed October 29, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/sign/rabbit/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Zodiac Rabbit: Years, Traits and Compatibility |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/sign/rabbit/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-29}}