'属蛇' literally means 'belongs to the Snake' and is a fixed noun phrase used in Chinese zodiac contexts to indicate that a person was born in a Year of the Snake (e.g., 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, or 2025). The character 属 (shǔ) here functions as a verb meaning 'to belong to' — specifically, to belong to one of the twelve zodiac animals — while 蛇 (shé) is the animal 'snake'. Together, they form a compact label for zodiac identity, commonly used in conversations about personality traits, compatibility, fortune-telling, or cultural introductions.

This phrase is almost always used predicatively or attributively: '他是属蛇的' ('He is born in the Year of the Snake') or '属蛇的人' ('people born in the Year of the Snake'). It's not used independently as a subject or object without modification. Unlike Western zodiac signs tied to months, the Chinese zodiac operates on lunar years, so birth dates must be checked against the Chinese calendar to determine accuracy.