2025 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Wood Snake (乙巳)
乙巳 Yi Si · Yin Wood over the Snake's Fire branch · number 42 of 60
2025 was a 乙巳 (Yi Si) year — the 42nd of the sixty stem-and-branch combinations, and in everyday English a Wood Snake year. The element in that name comes from the heavenly stem 乙 (Yin Wood); the branch 巳, the Snake itself, carries Fire whatever the stem above it says. Its na yin, the older sixty-part scheme, reads 覆灯火 — a Fire na yin.
The 2025 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 3 Feb 2025, 22:10 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 2026, 4 Feb 2026, 04:02 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 2025 fell on 29 January 2025, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 2025 should check the table below before claiming a sign.
2025 is one of 9 Snake years between 1924 and 2027, and one of 2 Wood Snake years in that span (1965 and 2025), because stem and branch only line up again after sixty years: the same 乙巳 pillar last stood in 1965 and returns in 2085.
Which sign a 2025 birthday belongs to
| Born between (Beijing time) | Stem and branch | Sign | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2025, 00:00 → 3 February 2025, 22:10 | 甲辰 | Wood Dragon | Still the Dragon year that opened in 2024. |
| 3 February 2025, 22:10 → 31 December 2025, 23:59 | 乙巳 | Wood Snake | The Snake year proper; it runs on past 31 December until Lichun 2026. |
Born on 1 January 2025? That is a Dragon, not a Snake: the Wood Dragon year 甲辰 ran on until 3 February 2025 at 22:10 Beijing time.
Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 2025 it fell at 22:10 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Snake year, so a birth at 22:10 on that day is already a Snake. 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 乙巳 pillar
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Stem and branch | 乙巳 (Yi Si) |
| Place in the sixty-year cycle | 42 of 60 |
| Heavenly stem | 乙 — Yin Wood 木 |
| Earthly branch | 巳 — the Snake 蛇, fixed element Fire 火 |
| Na yin (纳音) | 覆灯火 — a Fire na yin |
| Lichun (start of the zodiac year) | 3 Feb 2025, 22:10 (Beijing time, UTC+8) |
| Chinese New Year | 29 January 2025 |
| Same pillar last seen / next seen | 1965 / 2085 |
Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 乙巳 belongs to 1965, 2025 and 2085 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 Snake
Wood Snake (Yi Si) feeds the branch's Fire with yin Wood, the producing relationship, and the reading is strategy with sociability laid over it: the most approachable of the five, good at building the network the analysis needs. Yi is the climbing plant, so the tradition emphasises indirect routes and patience, with a caution about depending on other people's structures.
| Variant | Stem and branch | Snake years 1924–2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Wood Snake | 乙巳 | 1965, 2025 |
| Fire Snake | 丁巳 | 1977 |
| Earth Snake | 己巳 | 1929, 1989 |
| Metal Snake | 辛巳 | 1941, 2001 |
| Water Snake | 癸巳 | 1953, 2013 |
Every Snake year from 1924 to 2027
- 1929Earth Snake
- 1941Metal Snake
- 1953Water Snake
- 1965Wood Snake
- 1977Fire Snake
- 1989Earth Snake
- 2001Metal Snake
- 2013Water Snake
- 2025Wood Snake · this page
Born in 2025: the 2027 Goat year
| Snake born 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Age at Lichun 2027 | 1–2 |
| Nominal age 虚岁 | 3 |
| Relationship with the 2027 Tai Sui | None |
| Traditional reading | Steady — no direct relationship with the Tai Sui |
| Ben Ming Nian 本命年 | No — 2027 is a Goat year |
| Lucky element for the year | Wood · green, teal · 3, 8 · East |
At Lichun 2027 someone born in 2025 is 1 if their birthday has not yet come round and 2 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 3 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 Snake in 2027. For the part of the sign that does not move with the year, see the Snake profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Someone born in January 2025 — Dragon or Snake?
- Dragon. The Snake year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 3 Feb 2025, 22:10 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Wood Dragon year 甲辰. Chinese New Year 2025 fell on 29 January 2025, 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 2025 a Wood Snake or a Fire Snake?
- Wood Snake, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 2025 is 乙 — Yin Wood. The Fire belongs to the branch 巳, the Snake's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Snake year to the next. So 2025 is a Wood stem sitting over a fire branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 覆灯火.
- How old is someone born in 2025 in 2027?
- 1–2 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 3 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. 2025 is one of 9 Snake years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — None — but each is a different age.