Year of the Rat: years, personality and 鼠 in Chinese
The Rat is the first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac: every cycle starts with it. Rat years include 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, and the next one is 2032. One thing to keep in mind before you look up your birth year: a zodiac year doesn't begin on January 1. It begins on Chinese New Year, which moves around between late January and mid-February.
Why does a small, not especially loved animal lead the whole cycle? The best-known folk tale has an answer. The Jade Emperor called the animals to a race and promised that the order they finished in would be the order of the years. The course ended on the far bank of a river. The Rat couldn't swim, so it asked the Ox for a ride, sat quietly on its head, and jumped off just before the finish line. The Rat came first and the honest, hard-working Ox came second. In a popular version the Rat was also supposed to wake its friend the Cat on the day of the race and didn't, which is why there's no Cat in the zodiac and why cats have chased rats ever since.
Years of the Rat
The table shows every Rat year from 1924 to 2032 with the exact first and last day, the element of the year and its name in Chinese.
| Year | Starts | Ends | Element | In Chinese |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | February 5, 1924 | January 23, 1925 | Wood Rat | 甲子 · 木鼠 |
| 1936 | January 24, 1936 | February 10, 1937 | Fire Rat | 丙子 · 火鼠 |
| 1948 | February 10, 1948 | January 28, 1949 | Earth Rat | 戊子 · 土鼠 |
| 1960 | January 28, 1960 | February 14, 1961 | Metal Rat | 庚子 · 金鼠 |
| 1972 | February 15, 1972 | February 2, 1973 | Water Rat | 壬子 · 水鼠 |
| 1984 | February 2, 1984 | February 19, 1985 | Wood Rat | 甲子 · 木鼠 |
| 1996 | February 19, 1996 | February 6, 1997 | Fire Rat | 丙子 · 火鼠 |
| 2008 | February 7, 2008 | January 25, 2009 | Earth Rat | 戊子 · 土鼠 |
| 2020 | January 25, 2020 | February 11, 2021 | Metal Rat | 庚子 · 金鼠 |
| 2032 | February 11, 2032 | January 30, 2033 | Water Rat | 壬子 · 水鼠 |
"Rat" in Chinese: 鼠 and 老鼠
In the zodiac the Rat is the single character 鼠 shǔ. To say it, start with the "sh" of "shoe", but curl the tip of your tongue a little further back; the vowel is the "oo" of "shoe" too. The tone is the third one: your voice dips low and, when the word is on its own, comes back up a little. You'll find more on that tone in the article on the third tone.
In everyday speech nobody says 鼠 alone. The ordinary word is . The 老 here doesn't mean "old": it's a little prefix that some animal names carry, like the 老 in 老虎, the tiger. Two third tones in a row also give you a free pronunciation lesson: the first one turns into a rising tone, so 老鼠 sounds like "láo shǔ".
And here's a surprise for English speakers: Chinese doesn't really split mice from rats. 老鼠 covers both, from a field mouse to a big city rat. That's why the "Year of the Rat" is sometimes translated as the "Year of the Mouse", and both are right. If you want to be specific, a large one is simply a 大老鼠, a "big mouse".
The Rat also has its own "earthly branch", 子 zǐ, the first of the twelve. You'll see it in the names of Rat years in the table above (the 2020 year was 庚子). The branches once named the hours of the day as well: the Rat's two hours, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., are still called 子时 zǐshí, and midnight is 子夜 zǐyè in written Chinese.
Words and idioms with the Rat
鼠 turns up in more words than you'd expect, because Chinese builds the names of many small furry animals from it. And the word every computer user needs is a rat word too. Tap a card to hear it.
- 老鼠lǎoshǔmouse, rat
- 鼠标shǔbiāocomputer mouseliterally "mouse marker"
- 松鼠sōngshǔsquirrelliterally "pine mouse"
- 袋鼠dàishǔkangarooliterally "pouch mouse"
- 猫māocatthe animal the Rat left out of the race
Note that a computer mouse is 鼠标, never 老鼠: if you tell an IT person your 老鼠 is broken, they'll call pest control. Mickey Mouse, by the way, is 米老鼠 Mǐ Lǎoshǔ, "Rice Mouse".
Chinese idioms aren't kind to the Rat. Here are three you'll actually meet:
- 胆小如鼠dǎnxiǎorúshǔas timid as a mouseliterally "gall small like a mouse"; the gall bladder is the seat of courage
- 鼠目寸光shǔmùcùnguāngshort-sighted, unable to see past the end of your noseliterally "mouse eyes, an inch of light"
- 老鼠过街，人人喊打lǎoshǔguòjiē,rénrénhǎndǎsomeone everybody hates"when a rat crosses the street, everyone shouts to hit it"
And three everyday sentences, recorded by a native speaker:
- 你怕老鼠吗？nǐpàlǎoshǔmaAre you afraid of mice?
- 请把鼠标移动到这里。qǐngbǎshǔbiāoyídòngdàozhèlǐPlease move the mouse over here.
- 我的鼠标坏了，只能用键盘。wǒdeshǔbiāohuàile,zhǐnéngyòngjiànpánMy mouse is broken, so I can only use the keyboard.
How to say "I'm a Rat" in Chinese
To talk about your sign, Chinese uses the verb . And here the Rat has a pun built in: 属 "to belong to" and 鼠 "rat" sound exactly the same, shǔ with the third tone. So "I'm a Rat" is 我属鼠 wǒ shǔ shǔ, which makes Chinese learners smile the first time they say it.
- 你属什么？nǐshǔshénmeWhat's your zodiac sign?
- 你的生肖是什么？nǐdeshēngxiàoshìshénmeWhat's your Chinese zodiac animal?
- 我属鼠。wǒshǔshǔI'm a Rat.
The Year of the Rat is 鼠年 shǔ nián, and the New Year greeting for it is 鼠年大吉 shǔ nián dà jí, "great luck in the Year of the Rat". The word for the zodiac sign itself is .
People in China ask 你属什么？ more often than you might think, and not only out of interest in astrology: the answer tells you someone's age within twelve years. If two people have the same sign and look a generation apart, the gap is twelve years, 一轮 yì lún, "one round" of the cycle.
Rat personality in Chinese tradition
Folk tradition sees the Rat the way the race story paints it. People born in Rat years are said to be clever, quick and resourceful, good at spotting a chance and making the most of it. They're also said to be sociable, observant and careful with what they have. The less flattering side, the story goes, is a tendency to worry and to look out for themselves first. Take it as folklore, the way you'd read a horoscope column: nobody in China plans a career by it.
Each Rat year also has an element, and tradition gives every element its own shade. The Metal Rat (1960 and 2020) is said to be the most determined; the Water Rat (1972 and 2032) the most flexible and perceptive; the Wood Rat (1924 and 1984) warm and creative; the Fire Rat (1936 and 1996) energetic and bold; the Earth Rat (1948 and 2008) steady and practical. The element comes from the first character of the year's name, so the same combination, the same "Metal Rat", returns only every sixty years.
Rat compatibility
In Chinese tradition the best matches for a Rat are the Dragon and the Monkey: the three signs four years apart form a "trine", 三合 sānhé, and are thought to understand each other well. The difficult partner is the Horse, the sign directly opposite on the circle, six years away. This pairing is called a clash, 六冲 liùchōng. Some families still glance at the signs before a wedding, though for most people today it's a conversation topic rather than a rule.
Your own year: 本命年
The year of your own animal, which comes back every twelve years, is called 本命年 běnmìngnián. Oddly enough, it's traditionally considered an unlucky year, not a lucky one, and the classic protection is the color red: red socks, red underwear or a red string around the wrist, often a present from family. For everyone born in a Rat year, the next 本命年 is 2032: the Water Rat year begins on February 11, 2032.
The 12 Chinese zodiac animals
The Rat opens the cycle; here are all twelve. Each one has its own page with years, words and idioms.
To see every year at a glance, use the Chinese zodiac years chart. How the Rat year actually starts, with the family dinner, the dumplings and the red envelopes, is in the article on Chinese New Year, and what to say on the day is in Chinese New Year greetings. For more animal names, from cats to pandas, see animals in Chinese.
Say more than your sign
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