Goat (zodiac)

The Goat (Chinese: 羊; pinyin: yáng) is the eighth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The sign is referred to as the ram and sheep sign,^[1][2] since the Chinese word yáng is more accurately translated as Caprinae, a taxonomic subfamily that includes both goats and sheep.^[3] The Year of the Goat is associated with the 8th Earthly Branch symbol, 未 (wèi).^[4]

Goat or Sheep

The Chinese word yáng also refers to both goats and sheep,^[5] whereas the terms shānyáng (山⁠羊) and miányáng (绵⁠羊; 綿⁠羊) also refer exclusively to both goats and sheep respectively.^[6][7] In English, the sign may also be called either. The interpretation of both goats and sheep depends on culture.^[1] In Vietnamese, the sign is mùi, which is unambiguously goat.^[8] In Japan , on the other hand, the sign is hitsuji, sheep;^[8] while in Korea^[9] and Mongolia, the sign is ram and sheep. Within China , there may be a regional distinction with the zodiacal yáng more likely to be thought of as a goat in the south, while tending to be thought of as a sheep in the north.^[10]

Characteristics

The Chinese commonly regard the sheep as an auspicious animal, and therefore, heralds a year of promise and prosperity.^[6] "Yáng" (羊) is a component of another written Chinese characters "xiang" (祥), which means auspiciousness, and the two were interchangeable in ancient Chinese, according to one source.^[11] It is also a part of the character "shan" (善), which counts kindness and benevolence as among its meanings.

Individuals born in the zodiac year have been supposed to share certain characteristics with other individuals also born in years of the same animal sign. Similarly, years sharing the same animal sign have been supposed to share certain characteristics, repeating over their 12/60 year cycle. The shared characteristics in this case are traits attributed to goats.

Due to the lunisolar nature of the traditional Chinese calendar system,^[12] the zodiacal year does not align with the Gregorian calendar: new years are determined by a system which results in each new year beginning on a new moon sometime between late January to mid-to-late February.^[13] Goat aspects can also enter by other chronomantic factors or measures, such as hourly.

In Chinese astrology, Goats are described as peace-loving, kind, and popular.^[14] With the addition of the Wood element, the Goat characteristic is thought to love peace and to be helpful and trusting, but yet also to be clinging and of a nature resistant to change.^[15]

Years and the Five Elements

People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Goat", while also bearing the following elemental sign:

Chinese zodiac Goat Compatibility Grid

Basic astrology elements

See also

• Goat
• Bovidae in Chinese mythology
• List of Chinese terrestrial ungulates

References

Further reading

• Neil Somerville (2002). Your Chinese Horoscope for 2003. HarperCollins. pp. 368. ISBN 9780007131495. 
• Kassy Lee: The Year of the Untranslatable Animal

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