BaZi Glossary: Every Confusing Term, Explained in One Line

What stops most people reading a BaZi chart is not the logic but the vocabulary: Hurting Officer meets Direct Officer, Seven Killings generating Resource, heavy Wealth with a weak Day Master… This glossary gathers 144 common terms into nine groups. Each one gets a single-sentence definition and a link to the page on this site that explains it fully. Chinese names are shown alongside, so you can match them to Chinese sources.

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Type a keyword (for example “officer,” “clash” or “Tai Sui”), or paste the Chinese term, and the index below filters as you type.

Basics (12)

Chart Casting & Calendar (16)

Ten Gods & Combinations (20)

Strength & Favorable Elements (13)

Chart Structures (14)

Stem & Branch Relations (12)

Symbolic Stars (23)

Luck Pillars & Annual Luck (19)

Life Areas (15)

The nine groups

BasicsBaZi, Four Pillars, stems and branches, yin-yang, Five Elements, Day Master Chart Casting & CalendarHow the pillars are cast, solar terms, true solar time, the Zi hour, Conception Pillar Ten Gods & CombinationsFriend to Direct Resource, plus seven classic pairings Strength & Favorable ElementsStrong or weak, favorable elements, climate, twelve life stages Chart StructuresThe eight regular structures, Jian Lu, follow, transformation, dominant Stem & Branch RelationsCombine, meet, clash, punish, harm, break, arch; stem combinations Symbolic StarsNobleman, Academic Star, Peach Blossom, Traveling Horse, the Void… Luck Pillars & Annual LuckLuck pillars, annual and monthly pillars, Tai Sui, San Yuan Jiu Yun Life AreasWealth, family, study, marriage, career, partnerships

About this glossary

Every definition is taken from the one-line definition on the matching page of this site, so when a page is updated, the glossary follows; only terms without their own page are written here. Usage varies a little between schools; this site follows the Zi Ping BaZi usage common in Taiwan. Everything here is for reference and entertainment only.

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BaZi Glossary FAQ

What are the most basic BaZi terms?

Start with six: BaZi, the Four Pillars, Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, the Five Elements and the Day Master. BaZi is the eight characters of the four pillars; each pillar has a stem on top and a branch below; the day pillar’s stem is the Day Master, which stands for you; and the elements’ generating and controlling cycles tie every reading together.

What are the Ten Gods?

The Ten Gods are ten relationships defined around the Day Master, by how each other stem’s element generates or controls it and whether their polarity matches: Friend, Rob Wealth, Eating God, Hurting Officer, Indirect Wealth, Direct Wealth, Seven Killings, Direct Officer, Indirect Resource and Direct Resource.

How do favorable and unfavorable elements differ?

Favorable elements bring the chart toward balance; unfavorable ones deepen its lean. A strong Day Master favors control and drain and dislikes more support; a weak one favors support and dislikes more control and drain. Climate adjustment, illness and remedy, and bridging are further methods.

Where do the definitions come from?

Each one is taken from the one-line definition on the matching page of this site, so the glossary updates when that page does. Only basic terms without their own page, and symbolic stars whose English page is not written yet, have definitions written here.