Heavenly Stems
Jiǎ, Yǐ, Bǐng, Dīng, Wù, Jǐ, Gēng, Xīn, Rén, Guǐ — ten in total. They are the top character in each of the Four Pillars.
Jiǎ, Yǐ, Bǐng, Dīng, Wù, Jǐ, Gēng, Xīn, Rén, Guǐ — ten in total. They are the top character in each of the Four Pillars.
They are paired into two groups to correspond with the Five Elements and are further classified as Yin or Yang:
| Element | Yang Stem | Yin Stem |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | Jiǎ (甲) | Yǐ (乙) |
| Fire | Bǐng (丙) | Dīng (丁) |
| Earth | Wù (戊) | Jǐ (己) |
| Metal | Gēng (庚) | Xīn (辛) |
| Water | Rén (壬) | Guǐ (癸) |
⚠️ In Simplified Chinese, the character for 'stem' in 'Heavenly Stems' (干) shares the same form with two other Traditional Chinese characters that have completely different meanings. Converting character-by-character to Traditional would turn 'Ganzhi' (干支) into a different word. For the correct Traditional forms of these three characters, please see our entry on Commonly Confused Characters between Traditional and Simplified Chinese — the content on that page is not automatically converted, but this one is.