He was born in the year of Hai, the year of the Pig.
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亥 is the 12th and final of the twelve earthly branches (地支 dìzhī), paired with the Pig (猪) in the Chinese zodiac. It corresponds to the 10th solar month (approx. November 7–December 6) and to 9–11 p.m. in the traditional timekeeping system.
The 亠 cap on top is the indexing Kangxi radical for 亥. Originally 亥 depicted a boar or pig (the last earthly branch animal); the head of the boar was reanalyzed as the 亠 cap, anchoring the graph in the lid-radical lookup family.
pictograph
亥hài
twelfth earthly branch; boar
The lower strokes preserve the body and legs of the original boar pictograph, with diagonals showing the curved spine and trotters. This boar imagery is why 亥 marks the boar-hour (9-11pm) and boar-year in the traditional Chinese sexagenary cycle.
