1980 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Metal Monkey

沉浸 TeamAugust 26, 20264 min read

The 1980 Chinese zodiac animal is the Monkey. More precisely, 1980 was the Year of the Metal Monkey (庚申 gēngshēn): the zodiac year ran from February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981. If you were born in that window, your Chinese zodiac sign is the Monkey (猴 hóu).

One catch before anything else: the zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not January 1. Born in 1980 before February 16? Then you belong to the previous animal, the Earth Goat. The next section has the exact dates.

1980 Chinese zodiac at a glance

Animal: Monkey (猴 hóu), the ninth of the 12 zodiac animals
Element: Metal (金 jīn)
Traditional name: 庚申 (gēngshēn) in the 60-year cycle
Dates: February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981
Lucky numbers: 4, 9
Lucky colors: white, blue, gold

Born in January or February 1980?

Chinese New Year fell on February 16 in 1980. So:

Born January 1 to February 15, 1980: you're a Earth Goat (goat year 1979), not a Monkey.
Born February 16 or later in 1980: you're a Metal Monkey.

This is the single most common mistake people make with the Chinese zodiac. When a January or February birthday is involved, always check the new year date before assuming the animal.

The Metal Monkey personality

Monkeys are the zodiac's clever tricksters: curious, playful, and endlessly inventive. They learn anything fast, joke their way out of trouble, and get bored the moment a puzzle is solved. Life around a Monkey is never dull.

Metal is the element of structure and will. It adds discipline, high standards, and real persistence. In the 60-year cycle each animal pairs with one of five elements, so a Metal Monkey (born 1980) reads a little different from Monkeys of other years: the metal side colors how the monkey's core traits show up.

Strengths:

Brilliant problem-solver
Witty and fun
Versatile and fast-learning
Bounces back from anything

Watch out for:

Mischievous with the truth
Restless and scattered
Can seem unserious

Monkeys excel in engineering, comedy, science, media, and startups, anywhere cleverness is the job.

1980 zodiac compatibility

Traditional Chinese astrology groups the 12 animals into "trines" of three signs that share a temperament, and pairs each sign with a "secret friend" and one clash.

Best matches for the Monkey: the Rat and the Dragon (trine partners), plus the Snake, the Monkey's secret friend.
Trickiest match: the Tiger, the Monkey's opposite on the zodiac wheel.

Treat this as folk wisdom rather than fate. Plenty of happy couples "clash" on paper, and Chinese families today read these charts with a wink more often than a frown.

How to say it in Chinese

猴 (hóu): monkey
生肖 (shēngxiào): Chinese zodiac sign
我属猴 (wǒ shǔ hóu): "I'm a Monkey." The verb 属 (shǔ) means "to belong to"
本命年 (běnmìngnián): your own zodiac year, when your animal comes back around

Born in 1980? Your next 本命年 is 2028, the next Monkey year after 2026. Tradition says to wear red that year for luck.

Want to go beyond the zodiac? Create a free Chenjin account to hear words like 猴 and 生肖 pronounced by native-quality audio, save them as flashcards, and start reading real Chinese stories at your level.

Other Monkey years

1968: Earth Monkey (January 30, 1968 to February 16, 1969)
1992: Water Monkey (February 4, 1992 to January 22, 1993)
2004: Wood Monkey (January 22, 2004 to February 8, 2005)
2016: Fire Monkey (February 8, 2016 to January 27, 2017)
2028: Earth Monkey (January 26, 2028 to February 12, 2029)

Read the full Year of the Monkey guide for the personality in depth, or look up a different birth year on the Chinese zodiac overview.

1980 Chinese zodiac FAQ

What animal is 1980 in the Chinese zodiac?

1980 is the Year of the Monkey. Anyone born from February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981 is a Monkey; a birthday earlier in 1980 belongs to the Year of the Goat.

What element is 1980?

Metal. The full sign for 1980 is the Metal Monkey (庚申 gēngshēn), a combination that repeats only once every 60 years.

How old is someone born in 1980?

Someone born in 1980 turns 46 in 2026, or is still 45 if their birthday hasn't come around yet this year. In traditional Chinese age counting (虚岁 xūsuì), you'd add one more, since babies are counted as one year old at birth.