also: かんし
sexagenary cycle; Chinese zodiac (60 combinations)
The full 60-term cycle formed by pairing the 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches. In Japan, it is most commonly encountered in the context of years (e.g., 2024 is the Year of the Dragon under this system). The reading かんし is used in more technical or historical discussions.
Next year's sexagenary sign is Kinoe-Tatsu (Wood Dragon).
12-year Chinese zodiac; animal zodiac
Only with reading えと
In everyday conversation, 干支 (えと) often refers specifically to the 12 animal signs (十二支) rather than the full 60-term cycle. This usage is restricted to the reading えと.
What is your Chinese zodiac sign?
This year's zodiac sign is the dragon.
The sexagenary cycle is made up of combinations of the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches.
彼の干支は辰です。
His zodiac sign is the Dragon.
My zodiac sign is the rabbit.
Next year the zodiac cycle will come full circle and I'll be in my本命 year.
十干 names only the 10 Heavenly Stems, one half of the 60-term cycle that 干支 as a whole denotes, so the two are easily mixed up.
Standard kanji spelling; the reading えと is a gikun (meaning-based reading) and is the most common way to read this word in modern Japanese.
On'yomi reading; used mainly in technical or historical contexts, especially when referring to the full sexagenary cycle.
From Chinese 干支 (gānzhī), combining the characters for 'Heavenly Stem' (干) and 'Earthly Branch' (支). The reading えと is a Japanese gikun (meaning-based reading) derived from the older native term 'eto', while かんし is the on'yomi.