the 12 earthly branches 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥, used cyclically in the calendar and as ordinal numbers I, II etc

first year of the sixty-year cycle (where each year is numbered with one of the 10 heavenly stems 天干 and one of the 12 earthly branches 地支) / the sixty-year cycle

year of one's birth sign, according to the cycle of 12 animals of the earthly branches 地支

one of the twelve animals symbolic of the earthly branches 地支 / animal from the Chinese zodiac