Shíèr

Shíèr (十二) is the Chinese numeral for the number twelve. It is written with two characters, 十 meaning ten and 二 meaning two, and is pronounced Shí'èr in Mandarin. As a cardinal number, it functions like “twelve” in counting and in phrases that denote quantity or order.

In traditional counting and calendrical systems, 十二 appears in several familiar contexts. The year is divided into twelve months, yielding December as 十二月. Timekeeping historically divided the day into twelve hours, known as shíchen, with each period linked to one of the Earthly Branches (地支) and its corresponding zodiac animal. The twelve Earthly Branches are 子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥, which also form the basis of the Chinese zodiac (十二生肖).

Culturally, the number twelve is intertwined with the sexagenary cycle, a traditional framework that combines the ten heavenly stems with the twelve earthly branches to create a 60-year cycle used in historical dating and astrology. This system underpins a range of calendars, fortune-telling, and ceremonial practices in East Asian contexts.

In modern usage, 十二 remains a common referent for the number twelve in daily language, mathematics, and date notation. It appears in educational, literary, and media contexts as the standard word for the quantity, and it continues to carry cultural associations linked to timekeeping, astrology, and the lunar-solar calendar.