Mahjong Glossary — The Words Behind the Tiles

Whether you're learning your first hand or sitting down with players from a tradition you've never seen, this is the page to bookmark. Terms are grouped by category — use the navigation above to jump, or scroll through to build the full picture.

Section 01

The Tiles

Bamboo (索 suǒ / sok): One of the three numbered suits, 1 through 9, with four copies of each. Also called Bams or Sticks. The 1 of Bamboo is traditionally drawn as a sparrow rather than a single bamboo stalk — a visual nod to the game's Chinese name, máquè (麻雀), meaning "sparrow."
Characters (萬 wàn): One of the three numbered suits, 1 through 9, with four copies of each. Also called Craks or Wans. Each tile bears the character 萬 ("ten thousand") above a Chinese numeral.
Circles (筒 tǒng): One of the three numbered suits, 1 through 9, with four copies of each. Also called Dots or Pin. Each tile shows concentric circles representing strings of coins.
Winds (四風 sìfēng): Four honor tiles representing the cardinal directions: East (東 dōng), South (南 nán), West (西 xī), and North (北 běi). Four copies of each. Winds function both as seat indicators and as scoring tiles.
Dragons (三元 sānyuán): Three honor tiles, four copies of each: Red (中 zhōng, "center"), Green (發 fā, "prosperity"), and White (白 bái, often a blank tile or one framed in blue, representing purity or zero).
Flowers (花 huā): Four bonus tiles depicting the Four Gentlemen of classical Chinese painting: plum (winter), orchid (spring), bamboo (summer), and chrysanthemum (autumn). One copy of each. Used in most Chinese, American, and Taiwanese traditions; omitted entirely in Japanese Riichi.
Seasons (季 jì): Four bonus tiles depicting spring, summer, autumn, and winter. One copy of each. Often paired with the Flowers as the eight bonus tiles in a standard set.
Jokers: Eight wild tiles included only in American Mahjong sets. A joker can substitute for any tile within a set of three or more, but cannot be used in a pair. Jokers may be "robbed" from an exposed set by offering the natural tile in exchange. Unique to American (NMJL and Wright-Patterson) play.
Dora (ドラ): In Japanese Riichi, bonus tiles indicated by a tile flipped face-up in the dead wall. Each dora a player holds at the end of a winning hand adds +1 han to their score. Ura-dora are hidden dora revealed only when a player wins after declaring riichi.
Red Five (赤ドラ akadora): A 5-of-Pin, 5-of-Sou, or 5-of-Man painted red instead of the standard color. Functions as a permanent dora, adding +1 han to any hand it appears in. Standard in most modern Japanese Riichi sets, usually one or two per set.
Window Tile: A unique honor tile beyond winds and dragons, used in Filipino mahjong. Not found in any other tradition.
Animal Tiles: Four bonus tiles depicting Cat, Mouse, Rooster, and Centipede, used in Singaporean mahjong. Matching predator-prey pairs (Cat with Mouse, Rooster with Centipede) yields bonus scoring.

Section 02

Hand Structure

Set: Any complete grouping of three or four tiles that forms part of a winning hand. The general term encompassing triplets, sequences, and quads. A standard winning hand has four sets and a pair (five sets and a pair in Taiwanese mahjong).
Meld: A synonym for set, used most often when the set has been formed by calling a tile from another player and is therefore exposed face-up.
Pair: Two identical tiles. Every winning hand contains exactly one pair (sometimes called the eyes of the hand).
Triplet: Three identical tiles. The same as a pung.
Sequence: Three consecutive tiles in the same suit (such as 4-5-6 of Bamboo). The same as a chow. Sequences are only possible in the three numbered suits; winds and dragons cannot form sequences.
Quad: Four identical tiles. The same as a kong. Quads count as a single set for the purpose of completing a hand, but require an extra tile to be drawn so the player still finishes with the correct hand size.
Concealed Hand: A hand in which the player has called no tiles from other players. All tiles in the hand were drawn from the wall. Concealed hands score higher in nearly every tradition and are required for certain bonuses (such as riichi in Japanese mahjong).
Exposed Hand: A hand in which at least one set has been formed by calling another player's discard. Exposed sets are displayed face-up in front of the player. Exposed hands generally score less than concealed hands.

Section 03

Players & Table

Dealer / East: The first player in any hand and the player who deals the tiles. Designated by dice roll at the start of a game. In most traditions, if the dealer wins, they remain dealer for another hand; if they lose, the dealer position rotates counterclockwise to the next player.
Seat Wind: The wind assigned to each player at the start of a hand. The dealer is always East; play moves counterclockwise to South, West, then North. Triplets of a player's seat wind score a bonus.
Prevailing Wind (Round Wind): The wind associated with the current round. A full game consists of four rounds — East, South, West, and North — though many casual games end after the East round. Triplets of the prevailing wind score a bonus in addition to seat-wind bonuses.
The Wall (牌山 páishān): The face-down stacks of tiles from which players draw. At the start of each hand, all 136 or 144 tiles are shuffled face-down and built into four walls of stacks, two tiles high, forming a square in the center of the table. Sometimes called building the Great Wall.
Dead Wall: A reserved set of 14 tiles at the back of the wall in Japanese Riichi, used for replacement draws after a kong and for displaying dora indicators. Tiles in the dead wall are never drawn during normal play.
Live Wall: The remainder of the wall from which players actually draw during the hand. The hand ends in a draw (ryūkyoku in Japanese) if the live wall is exhausted without a winner.

Section 04

The Calls

Mahjong: The winning call. Announced by a player who has completed their hand, either by drawing the final tile from the wall or by claiming another player's discard. The hand is then displayed face-up for verification, and scoring begins.
Hu (胡 hú): The Cantonese and Mandarin equivalent of "Mahjong" — the call announcing a winning hand. Used across most Chinese-language traditions.
Ron (栄 / ロン): In Japanese Riichi, the call announcing a win on another player's discard. The discarder pays the entire score to the winner.
Tsumo (自摸 / ツモ): In Japanese Riichi, the call announcing a win by drawing the final tile from the wall (a self-draw win). All three opponents pay the winner.
Chow (吃 chī): A call to complete a sequence by claiming a discarded tile. Chow may only be called from the player immediately before you in the turn order (the player to your left). Lowest priority of the three calls; outranked by both pung and kong.
Pung / Pon (碰 pèng): A call to complete a triplet by claiming a discarded tile. May be called on any player's discard. Outranks chow when two players claim the same tile.
Kong / Kan (槓 gàng): A call to complete a quad. Three forms: concealed kong (formed entirely from drawn tiles), exposed kong (claiming another player's discard when already holding three), and added kong (adding a fourth tile to an existing exposed pung). After declaring a kong, the player draws a replacement tile from the dead wall.
Riichi (立直 / リーチ): In Japanese mahjong, a declaration made by a player whose concealed hand is one tile away from winning. The player wagers 1,000 points and locks their hand — they cannot change tiles or strategy thereafter. In exchange, the player gains a guaranteed yaku, eligibility for ippatsu and ura-dora, and a small psychological pressure on opponents.

Section 05

The State of Play

Tenpai (聴牌): In Japanese mahjong, the state of being exactly one tile away from a winning hand. A prerequisite for declaring riichi.
Noten (不聴): The opposite of tenpai. A hand that is more than one tile away from winning. Players who finish a hand in noten typically pay a small penalty to players in tenpai.
Furiten (振聴): In Japanese mahjong, the rule that a player cannot win on a discard if any of their possible winning tiles is in their own discard pile. The rule prevents a kind of accidental cheating and adds a defensive consideration to every late-game decision. Furiten becomes permanent after a riichi declaration.
Ippatsu (一発): In Japanese mahjong, a bonus yaku awarded when a player wins within one turn cycle (their next draw or any discard before then) after declaring riichi. Adds +1 han to the winning hand.
Shanten (向聴): The number of tile exchanges a hand is away from reaching tenpai. A hand at one-shanten is one tile-exchange away from being one tile away from winning. Shanten counting is a foundational skill in serious Riichi study.
Wait: The specific tile or tiles a tenpai hand needs to complete itself. A hand waiting on multiple possible tiles is on a "two-sided wait" or "multi-sided wait"; a hand waiting on a single specific tile is on a "single wait."
Self-Draw: Winning by drawing the final tile from the wall on your own turn, rather than by claiming another player's discard. Called tsumo in Japanese; carries a scoring bonus in most traditions.

Section 06

Scoring

Faan (番): In Cantonese and Hong Kong Old Style mahjong, the unit of doubling for a winning hand's features. A hand with three faan is worth eight times its base value (2³); a six-faan hand is worth sixty-four times. Most HKOS games require a minimum of three faan to declare a win and cap scoring at thirteen faan (a limit hand).
Han (翻): The Japanese equivalent of faan. Each han doubles the base value of a hand, up to defined score thresholds (mangan, haneman, baiman, sanbaiman, yakuman).
Fu (符): In Japanese Riichi, the base-point component of scoring, calculated from the structure of the hand (waits, set types, pairs of yakuhai). Combined with han to produce the final score.
Yaku (役): In Japanese Riichi, a named scoring pattern such as pinfu (all sequences with a non-yakuhai pair), tanyao (no terminals or honors), or toitoi (all triplets). Every Riichi winning hand must contain at least one yaku; without one, the hand cannot win regardless of structure.
Dora (ドラ): See The Tiles above. Functions as a +1 han bonus per tile in the winning hand.
Mangan (満貫): In Japanese Riichi, the first major scoring threshold: 8,000 points for a non-dealer win, 12,000 for a dealer win. Reached at roughly 5 han or 4 han with high fu.
Yakuman (役満): In Japanese Riichi, the maximum hand score: 32,000 points for a non-dealer, 48,000 for a dealer. Achieved by hitting a specific named yaku (such as kokushi musou — Thirteen Orphans — or suuankou — Four Concealed Triplets).
Tái (台): In Taiwanese mahjong, the unit of additive scoring. Each feature of a hand adds a flat number of tái; scores do not double as in Chinese or Japanese systems. A hand worth eight tái is exactly twice as good as a hand worth four.
Limit Hand: A hand that reaches the maximum possible score under a tradition's scoring system. In HKOS, a 13-faan hand. In Riichi, a yakuman. In American mahjong, the highest-value hands on the Card (often worth 75 points or more).
Jokerless: In American mahjong, completing a hand without using any joker tiles. Earns a scoring bonus.

Section 07

American Mahjong

The Card: The annual list of legal winning hands published each spring by the National Mah Jongg League. The 2026 card lists 72 hands across nine sections. Players must build their hand to match exactly one printed pattern. The previous year's hands become unplayable on April 1st each year.
Charleston: The ritualized opening exchange of tiles in American Mah Jongg. Before the first turn, players pass three tiles right, three across, three left — then reverse the sequence (three left, three across, three right). A second optional pass follows. Jokers may never be passed. Unique to American mahjong.
R.O.L.L.O.R.: The mnemonic for the Charleston sequence: Right — Over (Across) — Left — Left — Over — Right.
Bettor: In American Mah Jongg, a fifth player who sits out the hand but bets on which of the four active players will win. The bettor pays or is paid based on the outcome. A traditional accommodation for an odd-numbered group.
Exposure: In American Mah Jongg, the act of calling a tile from another player and displaying the completed set face-up. Each exposure must match the hand the player is pursuing on the Card — meaning exposures effectively announce a player's target hand to the table.
Wright-Patterson: A variant of American Mah Jongg developed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Uses a fixed hand list rather than the annually changing NMJL Card. Played in some military and senior-living communities.

Section 08

Famous Hands

Big Three Dragons (大三元 dà sānyuán): A hand containing triplets or quads of all three dragons (Red, Green, and White). A limit hand in most Chinese traditions; daisangen in Japanese, a yakuman.
Big Four Winds (大四喜 dà sìxǐ): A hand containing triplets or quads of all four winds. A limit hand; daisuushi in Japanese, a double yakuman.
Little Four Winds (小四喜 xiǎo sìxǐ): A hand containing triplets of three winds and a pair of the fourth. A limit hand; shousuushi in Japanese, a yakuman.
Thirteen Orphans (十三么 / 国士無双 kokushi musou): A hand consisting of one of each terminal (1 and 9) in each suit, one of each wind, one of each dragon, and a pair of any of these (13 unique tiles + 1 pair). A limit hand in all traditions; one of the most celebrated patterns in mahjong.
Nine Gates (九蓮宝燈 / chuuren poutou): A concealed hand in a single suit, consisting of 1-1-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-9-9 plus any one tile of that suit. Said to be the most beautiful pattern in mahjong; folklore holds that a player who completes it dies of joy shortly after.
Seven Pairs (七対子 / chiitoitsu): A hand consisting of seven different pairs, with no triplets or sequences. A non-standard winning structure recognized in most traditions; scores moderately.
All Pungs (碰碰胡 / toitoi): A hand consisting entirely of triplets and quads, plus a pair. No sequences.
All Chows (平胡 / pinfu): A hand consisting entirely of sequences, plus a pair that is not yakuhai (in Riichi). The most common yaku-producing hand in Japanese mahjong.
Half Flush (混一色 / honitsu): A hand using only one numbered suit plus honor tiles.
Full Flush (清一色 / chinitsu): A hand using only one numbered suit, with no honor tiles.
Heavenly Hand (天胡 / tenhou): The dealer winning with the initial fourteen tiles, before any discard. The rarest hand in mahjong.
Earthly Hand (地胡 / chiihou): A non-dealer winning on the first draw of the hand, before any of their own discards. Extremely rare.

Section 09

Equipment

Mahjong Mat: A felt-topped or rubber-backed mat placed under the playing area to muffle the sound of tiles, protect tiles and table from chipping, and define the play surface. Typically 31–33 inches square. Increasingly considered essential rather than optional in modern home play.
Rack: A wooden, plastic, or composite holder that displays a player's tiles upright in front of them. Universal in American play; common in Taiwanese; optional in Chinese and Japanese.
Pusher: A flat extension attached to the front of a rack, used to push the built wall forward into the play area without lifting tiles. An American innovation, particularly valued by older players. Often sold as a combined rack-and-pusher unit.
Dice: Two or three standard six-sided dice, used to determine the dealer and to mark where the wall is broken at the start of each hand.
Point Sticks (点棒 tenbō): Used in Japanese Riichi for tracking score during a session. Four denominations — 10,000-point sticks, 5,000, 1,000, and 100 — are distributed to each player at the start of a game. Modern automatic tables often include electronic point sticks with embedded chips.
Tile Bag: A drawstring fabric pouch for storing and transporting tiles. Traditional Chinese sets often include silk-lined cases; modern tile bags range from canvas everyday bags to silk and embroidered keepsake pieces.
Case: The traditional storage container for a mahjong set, ranging from carved camphor and rosewood boxes (Chinese tradition) to leather and faux-alligator cases (American Art Deco tradition) to compact zippered cases (modern travel sets). The case is often part of a set's collector value.
Automatic Table: A motorized mahjong table that shuffles tiles and builds the wall automatically between hands. Tiles in compatible sets contain embedded magnets that allow the table to sort them face-down. Standard in Japanese parlors and increasingly common in Chinese homes. Major brands include AMOS (the official supplier to Japan's M.League), Matsuoka, and AOTOMO.
Jansō (雀荘): A Japanese mahjong parlor. Modern jansō are typically smoke-free, gambling-free, alcohol-free social spaces, descended from the 1988 "Healthy Mahjong" movement. Japan has more than 22,000 jansō nationwide.

Section 10

The Traditions

NMJL (National Mah Jongg League): Founded 1937 in New York City by Dorothy Meyerson and Viola Cecil. The governing body of American Mah Jongg and publisher of the annual Card. More than 350,000 current members.
HKOS (Hong Kong Old Style): The most-played mahjong variant globally. Used across Hong Kong, southern China, and the Cantonese diaspora. Faan-doubling scoring with a 3-faan minimum.
MCR (Mahjong Competition Rules): The tournament standard codified by China in 1998. Eighty-one named scoring patterns; 8-point minimum to win. Used at the World Mahjong Championship.
JPML (Japan Professional Mahjong League): Founded 1981 by Takeo Kojima. The original professional Riichi organization in Japan.
M.League: Japan's professional team-sport mahjong league, founded 2018 by CyberAgent CEO Susumu Fujita. Ten teams, multi-million-yen prize pools, televised. The most visible professional mahjong organization in the world.
WMO (World Mahjong Organization): Founded 2006 in Beijing. The international governing body for competitive mahjong; organizes the World Mahjong Championship.
MERS (Mahjong European Ranking System): The ranking system used by the European Mahjong Association to track competitive player standings across MCR and Riichi tournaments.
Riichi: The Japanese form of mahjong, played with 136 tiles and a strict yaku requirement. The most strategically refined version of the game.
Wright-Patterson: See American Mahjong above.

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