Year of the Pig: Years List, Traits & Compatibility

Recent Years of the Pig: 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031. The sign returns every 12 years; the next one after 2019 is 2031. Each occurrence pairs the Hai (亥) branch with a different Heavenly Stem, so the same animal appears as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water versions across a 60-year cycle.

A zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Lunar New Year falls between January 21 and February 20, so anyone born in that window should check the exact start date in the table below before assuming the sign.

The 2019 Year of the Pig (Earth Pig, Ji-Hai 己亥) runs from February 5, 2019 to January 24, 2020, while Li Chun, the year-pillar boundary used by many Bazi schools, falls on February 4, 2019. The next Year of the Pig begins on January 23, 2031. A Chinese zodiac year does not start on January 1. The popular zodiac year begins at Lunar New Year (late January to mid-February), while many Bazi schools change the year pillar at the Li Chun solar term (around February 4). Use the table to check a January or February birthday against both boundaries.

In the Chinese calendar the Pig is a label for Hai (亥), the 12th of the twelve Earthly Branches. Hai is Yin Water. It marks the two-hour period of 9–11 pm, the north-northwest direction, and early winter.

In a Bazi chart Hai is also the branch of the 10th solar month, which begins at the Li Dong (立冬, Start of Winter) solar term. Its hidden stems are Ren 壬 (Yang Water), Jia 甲 (Yang Wood). Those hidden stems are why the same animal can read differently from one chart to another: they interact with the Day Master in ways the animal symbol does not show.

The traditional relationships are fixed by branch position rather than by personality:

• Six combination (Liu He): Pig and Tiger.
• Triad (San He): Pig, Rabbit, Goat, which together form a Wood frame.
• Clash (Chong): Pig and Snake, the branch six places away.
• Six harm (Liu Hai): Pig and Monkey.

These pairings describe how the branches interact in a calendar or chart. They are not a verdict on any relationship, and a full Bazi comparison looks at all four pillars of both people. The compatibility chart lists the same patterns for every sign.

Popular zodiac writing describes Pig people as generous, sincere, and comfort-seeking. Treat that as cultural symbolism attached to the Hai branch, not as a personality test: the year animal is one of eight characters in a birth chart, and the Day Master (the stem of the day pillar) carries more weight in a Bazi reading.

2026 is a Bing-Wu (丙午) Fire Horse year. For the Pig, Wu is neither a traditional harmony nor a clash pair. The 2026 forecast explains how that relationship is usually read, and why it should be checked against the full chart.