Ox (zodiac)
Sign of the Chinese zodiac
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Key Takeaways
- The Ox (牛) is the second of the 12-year periodic sequence (cycle) of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, and also appears in related calendar systems.
- There are also a yearly month of the ox and a daily hour of the ox (Chinese double hour, 1:00 a.
- By consequence, the zodiacal ox may be construed as male, female, neutered, intersex (formerly referred to as hermaphroditic), and either singular or plural.
The Ox (牛) is the second of the 12-year periodic sequence (cycle) of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, and also appears in related calendar systems.
The Year of the Ox is also denoted by the Earthly Branch symbol chǒu (丑). There are also a yearly month of the ox and a daily hour of the ox (Chinese double hour, 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.). Years of the oxen (cows) are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the ox/cow (over a sixty-year period), each ox/cow year also being associated with one of the Chinese wǔxíng, also known as the "five elements", or "phases": the "Five Phases" being Fire (火 huǒ), Water (水 shuǐ), Wood (木 mù), Metal (金 jīn), and Earth (土 tǔ).
Etymology
The Chinese term translated here as ox is in Chinese niú (牛), a word generally referring to cows, bulls, or neutered types of the bovine family, such as common cattle or water buffalo. By consequence, the zodiacal ox may be construed as male, female, neutered, intersex (formerly referred to as hermaphroditic), and either singular or plural.
The term "zodiac" ultimately derives from an Ancient Greek term referring to a "circle of little animals".
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