The full Chinese zodiac designation for the lunar year beginning on February 14, 2010, was Metal Tiger.
February 14, 2010, was Lunar New Year, beginning the Year of the Metal Tiger. The designation combines the animal Tiger with the Metal phase in the traditional five-element cycle. The year ended when Lunar New Year arrived in February 2011.
The Chinese zodiac uses twelve animals and five elements, producing a repeating 60-year cycle. Tiger years recur every twelve years, but the same Metal Tiger combination returns only every sixty years. The previous Metal Tiger year was 1950, and the next is 2070.
People born before February 14, 2010, generally belong to the previous zodiac year, the Earth Ox. This calendar boundary is why Gregorian birth-year shortcuts can produce incorrect zodiac answers.