Glossary of Mahjong Terms

B

Bamboos (tiles): Thirty-six suit tiles with a picture of bamboos or sticks. The 1-Bamboo tile is depicted with a bird or single bamboo. Also known as bams.
Bams: See bamboo.
Bird: A nickname for the 1-bamboo tile.

 

C

Characters (tiles): Thirty-six tiles with the Chinese character of ten thousand. Also known as craks.
Charleston: The passing phase before each hand in American mahjong.
Chi: Declaration of a chow.
Chow: A set that follows a sequence of numbers from the same suit.
Circles: See dots.
Claim (verb): To take the recent discard to create a set or mahjong. Claims are announced.
Concealed: Tiles that are not exposed.
Craks: See characters.

 

D

Dead Hand: A hand that is no longer eligible to win.
Dead Wall: The last 14 tiles of the wall that are never played. Also known as kong box or flower box.
Dealer: The player who breaks and distributes opening tiles and begins the game. Also known as east.
Discs: See dots.
Discard: The most recent tile that was placed on the floor.
Discard (verb): To place a tile onto the floor.
Discarder: The player who discarded the winning tile.
Dots (tiles): Thirty-six suit tiles with pictures of dots. Also known as circles or discs.
Dragons (tiles): The category of tiles composed of red, green, and white dragons.
Draw (verb): To pick up a tile from the wall.
Draw: A hand where no player wins.

 

E

East (player): The player who begins the game. Also known as the dealer.
Exposed: Tiles that are revealed to all players when claiming a discard.
Eyes: See pair.

 

F

Fan or Faan: Scoring elements or hand patterns.
Feel Like Winning: Declaration of a mood.
Floor: The area between the walls where discards are placed.
Flowers (tiles): The category of tiles composed of four flower and four season tiles. Also known as bonus tiles.
Four: See kong.

 

G

Game: A complete game consists of four rounds or 16 hands.
Green dragon: An honor tile. The green dragon is depicted with a picture of a green dragon (American) or the Chinese character fa (Asian).

 

H

Hand: The game play until someone wins or a draw occurs. Four hands make up a round (deals repeated do not count).
Hand (tiles): The 13 or 14 tiles you have during the game.
Honor (tiles): The category of tiles composed of winds and dragons.
Hu: A declaration of mahjong.
Hua: Declaration of a flower.

 

I

Isolated tile: A tile that has no relevance to other tiles.

 

J

Jokers (tile): Tiles that are used as wilds in American mahjong. The picture varies.

 

K

Kong: Four identical tiles. Also known as four.
Kong box: See dead wall.

 

L

Limit: The maximum number or ceiling.

 

M

Mahjong (win): Having completed a hand.
Melded: Reveal or exposed tiles.
Mixed: Three-suited. Each set is composed of a different suit.

 

N

Nine-fold: Nine identical tiles. This can be achieved in American mahjong using jokers.

 

O

Octet: Eight identical tiles. This can be achieved in American mahjong using jokers.

 

P

Pair: Two identical tiles. Also called the eyes or head.
Primary Chow: A chow that is composed of the numbers 1-2-3, 4-5-6, or 7-8-9.
Pure: One-suited. Each set is composed of the same suit.
Pung: Three identical tiles. Also known as triplets.

 

Q

Quint: Five identical tiles. This can be achieved in American mahjong using jokers.

 

R

Ready: One tile away from mahjong.
Replacement tile: A tile drawn from the dead wall to replace a flower or kong. Also known as a supplement tile.
Round: Four hands. Four rounds make up a game.
Red dragon: An honor tile. The red dragon is depicted with a red dragon (American) or with the character chung.

 

S

Self-drawn: A hand that is won by drawing the last tile needed for mahjong.
Separated serial pair: Two tiles that are one tile away from one another (e.g. 1-3, 4-6).
Septet: Seven identical tiles. This can be achieved in American mahjong using jokers.
Sequence: Consecutive numbers.
Serial pair: Two tiles that have consecutive numbers (e.g. 2-3, 6-7).
Set: A component of a hand. Either a chow, pung, kong.
Sextet: Six identical tiles. This can be achieved in American mahjong using jokers.
Shifted: Numerical sequences either one or two away from one another (e.g. 3-4-5 or 1-3-5).
Simples: Tiles numbered two through eight.
Soap: A nickname for the white dragon tile.
Stack: Two tiles, one on top of the other that form the wall.
Straight: Numerical sequence from one through nine.
Suit: The 108 tiles composed of bamboos, characters, and dots.
Supplement tile: See replacement tile.

 

T

Terminals: Tiles numbered one or nine.
Terminal serial pair: Two tiles that are in consecutive sequence containing a terminal (i.e. 1-2 or 8-9).
Tiles: The pieces of a mahjong set.
Triplet: See pung.

 

W

Wall: The remaining stack of tiles which are drawn from during play.
White dragon: An honor tile. The white dragon is either blank or depicted as a rectangle. Also known as soap.
Wind (prevalent): The wind assigned for the round.
Wind (seat): A player's assigned wind for the hand.
Wind (tiles): Honor tiles. The category of tiles composed of the east, south, west, and north tiles.

 

Z

Zero (American): See white dragon.