Twelve earthly branches are paired with animals in the Chinese zodiac.
The earthly branches are a traditional Chinese cycle of twelve symbols named Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai. Each branch has a corresponding animal, creating the familiar twelve-animal zodiac. The branches were originally part of a system for recording days and years, and their use extends beyond animal symbolism.
The animal pairings are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Together, the branches and animals form one repeating twelve-part cycle. This cycle is combined with the ten heavenly stems to create the sixty-year stem-branch calendar.
A frequent mistake is to count the heavenly stems and earthly branches together as though they were one list. There are ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches; the zodiac animals are specifically paired with the twelve branches.