Ox

丑 comes second in the twelve, right after 子, and the Ox is its creature. It counts as an earth branch and is yin in polarity. The Lunheng groups it with 未 as earth, and 未 happens to lie exactly opposite it on the circle.

Ask a modern zodiac book about the Ox and you tend to get stamina, patience and a stubborn streak. That sketch belongs to popular tradition. The old passage names the branch, its element and the ox, then has the ox subdued by the tiger, and it says nothing about temperament.

Two families of relation meet at 丑. With 子 it makes a Six Harmonies pair, and with 巳 and 酉 it forms a triad of metal, an odd result for an earth branch and a good illustration of triads following position. On the harder side sit the Clash with 未, the Harm with 午, the Breaking with 辰 and the Punishment circuit that runs through 丑, 戌 and 未, all of them names for fixed positions on a diagram. An Ox holds all of these at once, so a fair question is how much any single label could tell you about one friendship.