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), paired with the Pig (猪) in the Chinese zodiac. It corresponds to the 10th solar month (approx. November 7 to 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.
