Someone born in January 1955 — Horse or Goat?

Horse. The Goat year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1955, 22:17 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Wood Horse year 甲午. Chinese New Year 1955 fell on 24 January 1955, which is a different boundary again; classical chart work uses Lichun. Convert your birth moment to Beijing time before comparing it, because the Chinese calendar is defined on that meridian.

Is 1955 a Wood Goat or an Earth Goat?

Wood Goat, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 1955 is 乙 — Yin Wood. The Earth belongs to the branch 未, the Goat's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Goat year to the next. So 1955 is a Wood stem sitting over an earth branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 沙中金.

How old is someone born in 1955 in 2027?

71–72 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 73 by the nominal count (虚岁) that starts at one and rises at each Chinese New Year. The two answers differ because the ordinary count waits for the birthday and the nominal one does not. 1955 is one of 9 Goat years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — Presiding (Ben Ming Nian) 值太岁 — but each is a different age.

1955 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Wood Goat (乙未)

乙未 Yi Wei · Yin Wood over the Goat's Earth branch · number 32 of 60

1955 was a 乙未 (Yi Wei) year — the 32nd of the sixty stem-and-branch combinations, and in everyday English a Wood Goat year. The element in that name comes from the heavenly stem 乙 (Yin Wood); the branch 未, the Goat itself, carries Earth whatever the stem above it says. Its na yin, the older sixty-part scheme, reads 沙中金 — a Metal na yin.

The 1955 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1955, 22:17 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 1956, 5 Feb 1956, 04:11 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 1955 fell on 24 January 1955, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 1955 should check the table below before claiming a sign.

1955 is one of 9 Goat years between 1924 and 2027, and one of 2 Wood Goat years in that span (1955 and 2015), because stem and branch only line up again after sixty years: the same 乙未 pillar last stood in 1895 and returns in 2015.

Which sign a 1955 birthday belongs to

Two rows, one boundary: the zodiac year turns at Lichun, not at midnight on 1 January and not at Chinese New Year.
Born between (Beijing time)	Stem and branch	Sign	Why
1 January 1955, 00:00 → 4 February 1955, 22:17	甲午	Wood Horse	Still the Horse year that opened in 1954.
4 February 1955, 22:17 → 31 December 1955, 23:59	乙未	Wood Goat	The Goat year proper; it runs on past 31 December until Lichun 1956.

Born on 1 January 1955? That is a Horse, not a Goat: the Wood Horse year 甲午 ran on until 4 February 1955 at 22:17 Beijing time.

Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 1955 it fell at 22:17 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Goat year, so a birth at 22:17 on that day is already a Goat. Convert your own birth moment to Beijing time first — a birth in the Americas on the previous evening can already be past Lichun in Beijing. Check an exact birth date and time.

The 乙未 pillar

Every row is computed: the stem and branch from the Lichun boundary, the na yin from the sixty-cycle table, both dates from the Chinese calendar itself.
	1955
Stem and branch	乙未 (Yi Wei)
Place in the sixty-year cycle	32 of 60
Heavenly stem	乙 — Yin Wood 木
Earthly branch	未 — the Goat 羊, fixed element Earth 土
Na yin (纳音)	沙中金 — a Metal na yin
Lichun (start of the zodiac year)	4 Feb 1955, 22:17 (Beijing time, UTC+8)
Chinese New Year	24 January 1955
Same pillar last seen / next seen	1895 / 2015

Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 乙未 belongs to 1895, 1955 and 2015 and to no year in between. That is why a sixtieth birthday is traditionally marked: it is the year the whole pillar comes back.

The Wood Goat

Wood Goat (Yi Wei) sets yin Wood over the wood vault, stem and stored element agreeing, so the tradition reads it as the most openly creative of the five — the variant whose talent is visible rather than banked. Yi Wei is associated with design, writing and cultivation. The caution is that Wood on dry summer Earth needs watering: this variant depends on encouragement more than it admits.

Five stems above one branch: the animal returns every twelve years, the exact pillar only every sixty, so the five variants are not evenly spread across any span shorter than that.
Variant	Stem and branch	Goat years 1924–2027
Wood Goat	乙未	1955, 2015
Fire Goat	丁未	1967, 2027
Earth Goat	己未	1979
Metal Goat	辛未	1931, 1991
Water Goat	癸未	1943, 2003

Every Goat year from 1924 to 2027

Born in 1955: the 2027 Goat year

The Tai Sui relationship and the lucky element belong to the sign, not to the birth year, so every Goat year on this site reads the same here; the ages do not.
	Goat born 1955
Age at Lichun 2027	71–72
Nominal age 虚岁	73
Relationship with the 2027 Tai Sui	Presiding (Ben Ming Nian) 值太岁
Traditional reading	Challenging — a major Tai Sui affliction
Ben Ming Nian 本命年	Yes — 2027 is a Goat year
Lucky element for the year	Water · black, blue · 1, 6 · North

At Lichun 2027 someone born in 1955 is 71 if their birthday has not yet come round and 72 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 73 once New Year 2027 has passed.

The full reading — the month-by-month table, the five-element relationship with the year stem and the traditional remedies — is on Goat in 2027. For the part of the sign that does not move with the year, see the Goat profile.

Frequently asked questions

Someone born in January 1955 — Horse or Goat?: Horse. The Goat year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1955, 22:17 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Wood Horse year 甲午. Chinese New Year 1955 fell on 24 January 1955, which is a different boundary again; classical chart work uses Lichun. Convert your birth moment to Beijing time before comparing it, because the Chinese calendar is defined on that meridian.
Is 1955 a Wood Goat or an Earth Goat?: Wood Goat, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 1955 is 乙 — Yin Wood. The Earth belongs to the branch 未, the Goat's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Goat year to the next. So 1955 is a Wood stem sitting over an earth branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 沙中金.
How old is someone born in 1955 in 2027?: 71–72 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 73 by the nominal count (虚岁) that starts at one and rises at each Chinese New Year. The two answers differ because the ordinary count waits for the birthday and the nominal one does not. 1955 is one of 9 Goat years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — Presiding (Ben Ming Nian) 值太岁 — but each is a different age.