Glossary
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
- To claim a tile forming 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 tiles (14 in Japanese mahjong, 16 in Taiwanese mahjong) of the wall that are never drawn. 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.
- Ends
- Tiles numbered 1 or 9, and all honours.
- 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 （發）(Asian).
H
- Hand
- The gameplay 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.
- Head
- See pair.
- 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.
- Middles
- Tiles numbered 2 to 8.
- 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 a up a game.
- Red dragon
- An honor tile. The red dragon is depicted with a red dragon (American) or with the character chung（中）.
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.
page revision: 20, last edited: 17 Dec 2013 05:56