Key Terms for Reading a Bazi Chart
Use this glossary as a plain-English companion to the original Chinese terms that appear in Hidden Stems Bazi charts and reports.
Open free Bazi chartBazi
Ba Zi
A traditional Chinese metaphysics system that reads a birth moment through eight characters: four Heavenly Stems and four Earthly Branches.
Four Pillars
Si Zhu
The year, month, day, and hour pillars of a Bazi chart. Each pillar contains one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch.
Day Master
Ri Zhu
The Heavenly Stem of the day pillar. It is the central reference point for interpreting the rest of the chart.
Heavenly Stems
Tian Gan
The ten visible elemental symbols: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸.
Earthly Branches
Di Zhi
The twelve branch symbols used in Bazi and the traditional Ganzhi cycle: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥.
Ganzhi
Gan Zhi
A paired Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch, such as 丙子 or 乙未. Ganzhi pairs form the pillars and luck cycles.
Five Elements
Wu Xing
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In Bazi they describe relationships, support, pressure, movement, and balance.
Luck Cycles
Da Yun
Ten-year timing pillars used as symbolic prompts for changing life seasons, not as fixed event predictions.
Yang
Yang
The outward, active, direct quality in yin-yang polarity. Each Heavenly Stem has either yin or yang quality.
Yin
Yin
The inward, receptive, subtle quality in yin-yang polarity. Yin and yang describe style, not good or bad.
Solar Terms
Jie Qi
Seasonal markers used in traditional Chinese calendars. Bazi month pillars follow solar-term timing rather than ordinary calendar months alone.
Annual Pillar
Liu Nian
The Ganzhi pair of a given year, used as a yearly symbolic influence in relation to the natal chart.