寅 · Tiger

yín · 虎 · the third earthly branch

寅 yín is the third of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Tiger, Yang Wood. The earthly branches are the lower half of each pillar in a chart, and the branch of the year pillar is your Chinese zodiac animal. 寅 also names the hours from 3 to 5am and the first month of the solar year, and it clashes with 申, the Monkey.

The first stirring of spring before dawn. Yang Wood breaks through cold ground, and the first month of the solar year begins at 寅, at Li Chun.

The facts

Element

木 Wood, Yang

Hours

3 to 5am

Month

The first month of the solar year

Hidden stems

甲 Yang Wood丙 Yang Fire戊 Yang Earth

Clashes

申 Monkey · 寅申冲

Six combination

亥 → 木 Wood

Three harmony

寅午戌 → 火 Fire

Seasonal group

寅卯辰 → 木 Wood

Harm 害

巳 Snake

Punishment 刑

巳 Snake申 Monkey

Destruction 破

亥 Pig

These are the branch relations the engine computes. A clash in a chart is a watch-out, not a verdict, and a combination is not automatically good.

Where you meet it

• As the branch of a pillar. In the year pillar it is the animal people usually mean by "I am a Tiger".
• As the hour 寅时, 3 to 5am, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 申 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 寅.

Careful with the animal. Your BaZi year branch turns at Li Chun, not at Chinese New Year, so a birthday in late January or early February may not be the animal on the red envelope.