酉 · Rooster

yǒu · 鸡 · the tenth earthly branch

酉 yǒu is the tenth of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Rooster, Yin Metal. 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. 酉 also names the hours from 5 to 7pm and the eighth month of the solar year, and it clashes with 卯, the Rabbit.

Sunset and mid-autumn: Yin Metal, refined and clear. The branch sits due West, where the day and the season both draw in.

The facts

Element

金 Metal, Yin

Hours

5 to 7pm

Month

The eighth month of the solar year

Hidden stems

辛 Yin Metal

Clashes

卯 Rabbit · 卯酉冲

Six combination

辰 → 金 Metal

Three harmony

巳酉丑 → 金 Metal

Seasonal group

申酉戌 → 金 Metal

Harm 害

戌 Dog

Punishment 刑

self-punishment 自刑

Destruction 破

子 Rat

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 Rooster".
• As the hour 酉时, 5 to 7pm, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 卯 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 酉.

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.