Calendar
Enter a birth date (not just a year) to find its Chinese zodiac animal and element correctly — since the zodiac year starts at Chinese New Year, not January 1.
Most quick zodiac lookups only ask for a birth year, which gets the answer wrong for anyone born in January or February — the Chinese zodiac year starts on Chinese New Year (a date that itself moves between roughly January 21 and February 20), not January 1. Someone born on January 15, 2023, for instance, is still in the Year of the Tiger, not the Rabbit, because that year's Chinese New Year didn't begin until January 22. See Chinese New Year Dates for the exact boundary in other years.
The 12 animals repeat every 12 years, and combined with 5 elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) that cycle every 2 years, the full combination of animal and element only repeats once every 60 years.
Related
The exact yearly boundary this calculator depends on.
The unrelated Western, date-based zodiac system.
Another way of grouping birth years, for a different purpose.