Chinese Zodiac Animals Flashcards
Learn the 12 Chinese zodiac animals with printable flashcards — Chinese characters, pinyin, and meanings included. Choose from a double-sided deck or a colorful watercolor set.
- 12 double-sided cards
- Tone-colored pinyin
- 田字格 writing practice
- US Letter + A4
2026 is the year of the horse — shown above. All 12 animals share this design.
Meet the twelve animals
Click any card to flip it — name the animal, flip the card, and check the reading. It’s the same simple recall loop as the printed deck.
Get the free PDF
A vector file, so the cards stay crisp at any size and print clean in black and white too. Eight cards per page, two sheets, four pages.
Single-sided color cards
Everything a learner needs on one face — the watercolor animal, its character, the tone-colored reading and the English word — on portrait cards, eight to a sheet. Two pages, nothing to flip, nothing to glue: print it on any printer.
Free · No sign-up · 2 pages · 8 portrait cards per sheet · US Letter PDF
Prompt on the front, answer on the back
Front · the prompt
The animal’s mark beside its character, with a seal chip showing the earthly branch (子丑寅…). No pinyin — the answer stays on the back.
Back · the answer
The reading in tone colors, the English meaning, and two 田字格 grids to write the character twice from memory.
Sheet · the print
Backs are pre-mirrored for duplex printing, cut guides are printed on both sides, and every line is vector — no screenshots, no fuzz.
Get the sheet on paper cleanly
Double-sided
Print all pages with your printer set to “flip on long edge”. The backs are already mirrored, so every answer lands behind its own front.
No duplex printer?
Open this deck in the custom builder and tick single-sided fold mode: fronts on the left of the sheet, backs on the right — fold in half and every front sits on its back.
Paper & cutting
Card stock lasts longest, but plain paper works fine. Cut along the dashed guides — scissors, or a ruler and craft knife for a cleaner edge.
The twelve signs and their years
Every character links to its HanziPress page with stroke-order animation and step-by-step writing practice.
| Sign | Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning | Recent years | Said to be |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鼠子 | shǔ | rat | 2008 · 2020 · 2032 | Quick-witted and resourceful | |
| 牛丑 | niú | ox | 1997 · 2009 · 2021 | Diligent and dependable | |
| 虎寅 | hǔ | tiger | 1998 · 2010 · 2022 | Brave and confident | |
| 兔卯 | tù | rabbit | 1999 · 2011 · 2023 | Gentle and elegant | |
| 龙辰 | lóng | dragon | 2000 · 2012 · 2024 | Energetic and charismatic | |
| 蛇巳 | shé | snake | 2001 · 2013 · 2025 | Wise and calm | |
| 马午 | mǎ | horse | 2002 · 2014 · 2026 | Free-spirited and warm | |
| 羊未 | yáng | goat | 2003 · 2015 · 2027 | Kind and creative | |
| 猴申 | hóu | monkey | 2004 · 2016 · 2028 | Clever and playful | |
| 鸡酉 | jī | rooster | 2005 · 2017 · 2029 | Hardworking and observant | |
| 狗戌 | gǒu | dog | 2006 · 2018 · 2030 | Loyal and honest | |
| 猪亥 | zhū | pig | 2007 · 2019 · 2031 | Generous and easygoing |
Questions about the zodiac flashcards
Are these Chinese zodiac flashcards free?
Yes. The PDF is free to download and print — no sign-up and no watermark. Print as many copies as you like for your family, classroom or tutoring sessions.
How do I print the cards double-sided?
Open the PDF and print all 4 pages with your printer set to “flip on long edge” (the default for portrait paper). Pages alternate front, back, front, back, so every card lands behind its own prompt. Then cut along the dashed guides.
My printer can't print double-sided. What now?
Print the color edition instead — it is single-sided by design, so there is nothing to flip. Or print the front pages first (pages 1 and 3), put the paper back in the tray, then print the back pages (2 and 4). Or open the same deck in HanziPress's custom flashcard builder and turn on single-sided fold mode, which prints fronts and backs on one sheet to fold and cut.
Is there a single-sided version?
Yes. The color edition prints one face per card: the watercolor animal, the character, its tone-colored pinyin and the English word all sit on the same side of a portrait card, eight to a sheet. It is two pages per paper size, needs no duplex printing and no folding — download it from the color section on this page.
What size are the cards?
Eight cards print per US Letter or A4 sheet, each about 95 × 57 mm — a generous, hand-friendly size that also works pinned to a wall. The custom flashcard builder offers 2–10 cards per page if you want another size.
Can students practise writing the characters?
Yes — on the double-sided deck the back of every card carries two 田字格 practice grids under the pinyin and meaning: learners recall the character, write it twice, then flip the card to check their strokes against the front. The single-sided color set is for recognition practice instead.
Make a flashcard deck of your own
Paste any word list — your textbook lesson, an HSK level, your own vocabulary — and print it with the same tone colors, writing grids and duplex layout.