Plain-English definitions of the terms you will meet in a Bazi reading. Where schools disagree, we say so rather than pretending there is one answer.
Total: 40 entries
Fundamentals
日主Day Master · rì zhǔ
The stem of the day pillar, representing the person whose chart is read. Every other character is classified by how it relates to it. Also called the day stem.
日柱Day Pillar · rì zhù
The third pillar: a stem (the Day Master) over a branch (the spouse palace). Read as self and partnership.
年柱Year Pillar · nián zhù
The first pillar: environment at birth, family climate, early years. The year boundary is lichun (around 4 February), not 1 January.
月柱Month Pillar · yuè zhù
The second pillar and the heaviest position in the chart. Its branch defines the season and which element is in charge.
时柱Hour Pillar · shí zhù
The fourth pillar: later life, children, output. Hours are defined in true solar time, not clock time.
天干Heavenly Stem · tiān gān
Ten stems (jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, gui), each with an element and polarity.
地支Earthly Branch · dì zhī
Twelve branches, each mapped to a zodiac animal and containing one to three hidden stems.
藏干Hidden Stems · cáng gān
Stems embedded inside a branch, graded main / middle / residual. Essential for element strength; skipping them is the commonest counting error.
五行Five Elements · wǔ xíng
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. Generating and controlling cycles both matter; neither is inherently good.
旺衰Strength · wàng shuāi
How strong the Day Master is in that specific chart: support (same element plus producing element) versus drain and control.
喜用神Favorable Elements · xǐ yòng shén
Elements that help this particular chart. Strong Day Master usually benefits from drain/control; weak one from support.
用神Useful God · yòng shén
The single element prescribed to balance the chart. Methods differ (support-restrain, climate adjustment, bridging, disease-remedy).
Ten Gods
十神Ten Gods · shí shén
Ten relationship categories between the Day Master and other characters — five elemental relations, each in two polarities. Nothing religious.
比肩Friend · bǐ jiān
Same element, same polarity. Peers, colleagues, siblings, and one's own will.
劫财Rob Wealth · jié cái
Same element, opposite polarity. Peers with a competitive, resource-dividing edge.
食神Eating God · shí shén
What the Day Master produces, same polarity. Steady output: craft, nourishment, consistent creativity.
伤官Hurting Officer · shāng guān
What the Day Master produces, opposite polarity. Sharp output; questions authority. Useful for artists, awkward in hierarchies.
偏财Indirect Wealth · piān cái
What the Day Master controls, same polarity. Opportunistic, entrepreneurial, windfall-shaped resources.
正财Direct Wealth · zhèng cái
What the Day Master controls, opposite polarity. Earned, incremental, salaried income.
偏官Seven Killings · piān guān
What controls the Day Master, same polarity. Raw pressure: competition, crisis. Restrained, it reads as decisiveness; unrestrained, as attrition.
正官Direct Officer · zhèng guān
What controls the Day Master, opposite polarity. Legitimate structure: title, contract, reputation, accountability.
偏印Indirect Resource · piān yìn
What produces the Day Master, same polarity. Unconventional intake: intuition, pattern-reading, self-taught knowledge.
正印Direct Resource · zhèng yìn
What produces the Day Master, opposite polarity. Orthodox support: teachers, credentials, institutional backing.
Timing
大运Luck Pillar · dà yùn
Ten-year cycles, each with a stem-branch pair, starting from a calculated age. They determine which part of the fixed natal chart gets activated.
流年Annual Pillar · liú nián
The stem-branch pair for a given year. Layered over a Luck Pillar to see which year echoes or opposes the decade's theme.
起运Luck Pillar Start · qǐ yùn
The age at which the first Luck Pillar begins: count days to the solar term, three days per year.
Branch Relations
冲Clash · chōng
Six pairs that pull against each other: zi-wu, chou-wei, yin-shen, mao-you, chen-xu, si-hai.
合Combination · hé
Pair combinations, plus three-branch combinations that produce an element and can shift the whole chart's balance.
三会Directional Combination · sān huì
Three adjacent branches forming a seasonal direction: yin-mao-chen wood, si-wu-wei fire, shen-you-xu metal, hai-zi-chou water.
刑Punishment · xíng
Triangular or self-punishing combinations, usually read as recurring friction rather than dramatic events.
害Harm · hài
Six pairs of subtler friction than a clash: zi-wei, chou-wu, yin-si, mao-chen, shen-hai, you-xu.
Method
真太阳时True Solar Time · zhēn tài yáng shí
Time based on the sun's actual position at the birthplace: longitude correction (4 min/degree) plus equation of time (±16 min).
均时差Equation of Time · jūn shí chā
The difference between clock time and sundial time caused by Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt. About +16 min in early November, −14 min in mid-February.
节气Solar Term · jié qì
Twenty-four markers at 15-degree steps of the sun. A Bazi month runs from one term to the next, not calendar to calendar.
立春Lichun · lì chūn
Around 4 February: the Bazi year boundary. Births on 3 and 6 February can carry different year pillars.
夜子时Late Zi Hour · yè zǐ shí
The 23:00–24:00 window. Schools differ on whether the day pillar advances at 23:00 or at midnight; this site uses midnight.
身强身弱Strong / Weak Day Master · shēn qiáng shēn ruò
The first step in determining favorable elements. Strong is not better than weak; they simply call for opposite balancing.
Auxiliary
命宫Life Palace · mìng gōng
An auxiliary palace derived from the month and hour branches. Supporting reference, not part of the five-element count.
胎元Conception Pillar · tāi yuán
A stem-branch pair derived from the month pillar, traditionally read as the qi of conception. Supplementary.
纳音Na Yin · nà yīn
Imagistic names attached to each of the sixty stem-branch pairs, e.g. 'gold in the sea'. Classical usage; now supplementary.