Year of the Earth Ox
The Year of the Earth Ox falls in 1949, 2009 and 2069. The animal sets the character, and the Earth element colors it: persistence and stamina, plus stability, practicality and patience. It is considered a yin year, meaning calmer and more inward-looking.
Who Was Born in This Year
People born in 2009 (as well as in 1949 and, in the future, 2069) belong to the “Ox” sign with the “Earth” element.
Note: the Chinese year begins around February 4. People born in January or early February 2009 belong to the previous year of the cycle — check with the calculator.
Personality
The sign's core quality is persistence and endurance. Strength: the ability to finish what others have abandoned. Weak spot: stubbornness and reluctance to change a decision.
The Earth element adds stability, practicality and patience, but at the same time it slows things down and adds inertia. The result is a person whose persistence works quietly and inwardly: they act more slowly but more steadily.
The same combination applies to the year itself: it is good for long-haul work, building and anything done thoroughly. Earth also slows things down and adds inertia.
The Year's Element and Color
The year’s element is Earth; its colors are yellow and ocher. Polarity: yin (receptive, odd-numbered years of the cycle).
In Chinese tradition, a year’s color is simply the color of its element, not a “trendy shade”: it is fixed and nobody chooses it. Learn more about the element’s properties on its page.
Compatibility
Compatibility is determined by the animal, not the element. The best partners for the Ox are the signs in its triangle; the most difficult is the opposite sign.
All 78 pairs are covered in Chinese zodiac compatibility, and the sign’s own profile is on its own page.
Years of This Sign
Each combination of animal and element repeats once every 60 years; this is the full Chinese cycle, known as jiazi. That is why the Earth Ox year falls in 1949, 2009 and 2069, and the next one will come only sixty years after the last.
The full 60-year table, with years and elements.