Chinese Astrology Glossary: Characters and Chart Terms
BaZi means eight characters; Ri Zhu is the Day Master; Da Yun names the ten-year luck periods. This glossary connects Chinese characters and common English aliases.
| Characters | Aliases | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 八字 | BaZi · Four Pillars | Year, month, day and hour, each written as a stem and branch. |
| 日主 | Ri Zhu · Day Master | The day’s heavenly stem, used as the reference for Ten Gods. |
| 天干 | Tian Gan · Heavenly Stem | One of ten phase-and-polarity coordinates. |
| 地支 | Di Zhi · Earthly Branch | One of twelve animal, hour and seasonal coordinates. |
| 藏干 | Cang Gan · Hidden Stems | The stems carried inside a branch. |
| 十神 | Shi Shen · Ten Gods | Ten phase-and-polarity relations to the Day Master. |
| 大运 | Da Yun · Luck Pillars | The ten-year pillar sequence derived from the birth month. |
| 流年 | Liu Nian · Annual Pillar | A selected year’s stem-and-branch pair. |
| 纳音 | Na Yin | Thirty named images assigned to consecutive pairs in the sixty-cycle. |
| 旬空 | Xun Kong · Void Branches | Two branch positions absent from a ten-pair decade. |
| 命宫 | Ming Gong · Life Palace | The Life reference palace in a Zi Wei chart. |
| 身宫 | Shen Gong · Body Palace | A separate Body marker attached to a life-area palace. |
| 四化 | Si Hua · Four Transformations | Lu, Quan, Ke and Ji assignments from a reference stem. |
| 宜忌 | Yi Ji | Suitable and unsuitable almanac activity entries. |
| 八卦 | Bagua · Eight Trigrams | Eight possible three-line Yin and Yang figures. |
八字 BaZi · Four Pillars
Eight characters arranged as a stem and branch for each of the birth year, month, day and hour. 日主 Ri Zhu, the Day Master, is the heavenly stem of the day pillar.
天干 Tian Gan · 地支 Di Zhi
The ten Heavenly Stems name phase and polarity. The twelve Earthly Branches name animals, hours, directions and seasonal positions; 藏干 Cang Gan are the stems held inside a branch.
十神 Shi Shen · 大运 Da Yun
The Ten Gods name relationships to the Day Master. Luck pillars are successive ten-year stem-branch periods derived from the birth month; 流年 Liu Nian is a selected annual pillar.
纳音 Na Yin · 旬空 Xun Kong
Na Yin assigns thirty named images to pairs of consecutive positions in the sixty-cycle. Xun Kong identifies the two branches absent from a ten-pair decade.
紫微斗数 Zi Wei Dou Shu
Purple Star charting places named stars in twelve life-area palaces. 命宫 Ming Gong is the Life Palace; 身宫 Shen Gong is the Body Palace marker. 四化 Si Hua are Lu, Quan, Ke and Ji transformations.
宜 Yi · 忌 Ji · 八卦 Bagua
Yi lists traditionally suitable activities and Ji unsuitable ones in an almanac. Bagua is the set of eight three-line figures; two trigrams together form a six-line hexagram.