Year of the Tiger

Tiger personality

Tigers are brave, confident, competitive and charismatic — natural leaders who act on conviction and bristle at being told what to do. Warm and generous with those they trust, they can also be impulsive and hot-tempered. Tradition casts the Tiger as a protector: bold in a crisis, but restless when things are calm and routine sets in.

The Tiger and the five elements

Each Year of the Tiger carries a different heavenly-stem element, so no two Tigers are quite alike. The current cycle’s 2034 is the Wood Tiger.

• Wood Tigergrowth-minded, generous and cooperative, taking the long view
• Fire Tigerdynamic, passionate and bold, quick to lead
• Earth Tigergrounded, patient and dependable, building to last
• Metal Tigerdisciplined, determined and principled, holding a firm line
• Water Tigerintuitive, adaptable and persuasive, reading people well

Tiger birth years and ages

Each zodiac year recurs every 12 years, with a different heavenly-stem element each time. Ages are the age reached during the year.

Tiger compatibility

Traditional matches follow the trine (San He), the secret-friend pair (Liu He) and the clash (Liu Chong), all set by the Tiger’s place in the twelve-year cycle.

Trine — natural allies

Horse and Dog. Signs four places apart share the Tiger’s pace and outlook, and tend to understand each other quickly.

Secret friend

Pig. The single strongest one-to-one bond — supportive even when the two are not in the same trine.

Clash — most tension

Monkey. The opposite sign, six places away — not doomed, but the pairing that asks for the most communication and patience.

The Tiger in Singapore

Tiger years carry a quiet superstition among some Chinese Singaporean families, who consider children born under the fierce Tiger harder to raise — a belief demographers have linked to a small dip in births in Tiger years. The Tiger still headlines the Chinatown light-up when its year arrives.