2015 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
2015 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 2015 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 2015, 11:58 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 2016, 4 Feb 2016, 17:46 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 2015 fell on 19 February 2015, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 2015 should check the table below before claiming a sign.
2015 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 1955 and returns in 2075.
Which sign a 2015 birthday belongs to
| Born between (Beijing time) | Stem and branch | Sign | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2015, 00:00 → 4 February 2015, 11:58 | 甲午 | Wood Horse | Still the Horse year that opened in 2014. |
| 4 February 2015, 11:58 → 31 December 2015, 23:59 | 乙未 | Wood Goat | The Goat year proper; it runs on past 31 December until Lichun 2016. |
Born on 1 January 2015? That is a Horse, not a Goat: the Wood Horse year 甲午 ran on until 4 February 2015 at 11:58 Beijing time.
Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 2015 it fell at 11:58 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Goat year, so a birth at 11:58 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
| 2015 | |
|---|---|
| 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 2015, 11:58 (Beijing time, UTC+8) |
| Chinese New Year | 19 February 2015 |
| Same pillar last seen / next seen | 1955 / 2075 |
Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 乙未 belongs to 1955, 2015 and 2075 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.
| 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
- 1931Metal Goat
- 1943Water Goat
- 1955Wood Goat
- 1967Fire Goat
- 1979Earth Goat
- 1991Metal Goat
- 2003Water Goat
- 2015Wood Goat · this page
- 2027Fire Goat
Born in 2015: the 2027 Goat year
| Goat born 2015 | |
|---|---|
| Age at Lichun 2027 | 11–12 |
| Nominal age 虚岁 | 13 |
| 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 2015 is 11 if their birthday has not yet come round and 12 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 13 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 2015 — Horse or Goat?
- Horse. The Goat year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 2015, 11:58 (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 2015 fell on 19 February 2015, 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 2015 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 2015 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 2015 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 2015 in 2027?
- 11–12 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 13 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. 2015 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.