List of terminology by alphabetical order

As this wiki discusses Japanese mahjong, Japanese terms are used frequently. The following list includes the Japanese terms, the English equivalent, and its definition. None of the yaku are listed here; they can be seen in the List of yaku.

For adding new words, use the Term list template.

Terminology list

Agari 「和がり」 Win	Generic call for winning a hand.

Agaripai 「和がり牌」 Winning tile	The 14th tile that completes a hand.

Agariyame 「和了り止め」	Rule that allows a dealer to end the game in all last (even if they won, which would normally trigger renchan).

Aidayonken 「間四軒」 Four in between	An interval of four between two discarded number tiles. Usually indicates dangerous waits. A discarded 1 and 6 make a 2—5 wait very probable.

Akapai 「赤牌」 Red dora	Red tiles; each tile in hand counts as a dora. Usually fives, but not always.

An 「暗」 Closed, concealed	Meaning "dark", refers to tiles that are concealed in the hand.

Anjun 「暗順」 Concealed sequence	Three self-drawn consecutive tiles of the same suit, used as one of the four tile groups in a regular hand. An open sequence would be a minjun, the general term for a sequence is shuntsu.

Ankan 「暗槓」 Concealed kan	Four self-drawn identical tiles set aside as a kantsu. Declaring an ankan does not open the hand if it was previously closed.

Ankou 「暗刻」 Concealed triplet	Three self-drawn identical tiles, used as one of the four tile groups in a regular hand. Compare with the yaku names san ankou and suu ankou. An open triplet would be a minkou, and the general term for any triplet is koutsu.

Anpai 「安牌」 Safe tile	Safe tile; a tile that cannot be used for an opponent's ron (cannot be used to let an opponent win).

Aotenjou 「青天井」 No capping	A rarely used rule. It eliminates the mangan and yakuman limits, meaning every han will double your score indefinitely.

Ari 「あり,アリ,有り」 In effect, on	States that the preceding rule is used, as in akadora ari for playing with red fives. Opposite of nashi.

Ari ari 「アリアリ」	Ruleset which allows kuitan and atozuke. Most common basic set of rules in Japan.

Atama 「頭」 Pair, eye, head	The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also "jantou".

Atamahane 「頭跳ね」 Head bump	A rule that allows only one ron at a time; the closest to the discarder in turn order takes priority.

Atozuke 「後付け」 After-attach	Allows a hand to win despite having no guaranteed yaku while in tenpai, as long as the winning tile generates a yaku.

Awaseuchi 「合わせ打ち」	Discarding the same tile as someone else, to avoid dealing into their hand.

Ba 「場」 Wind round	A “wind round”, e.g. tonba (east round) or nanba (south round).

Baiman 「倍満」 Double slam	A hand worth 8 to 10 han.

Bakahon 「バカホン」	Slang for honitsu nomi with no extra yaku or dora.

Bakaze 「場風」 Round wind	Round wind.

Barai 「払い」 Payment	A payment. Also “furikomi”.

Basengo 「場千五」	A rule where each honba counter is worth of 1500 points instead of the regular 300 points.

Bazoro 「場ゾロ」	The two base Han used when calculating score, given by default rather than from yaku.

Betaori 「ベタ降り」 Full defense	A strategy that focuses entirely on avoiding dealing into opponents’ hands, with no intention of developing one’s own hand.

Chakan 「加槓」 Added kan	A kantsu that was upgraded from a minkou.

Chii 「チー」	The call used to make a minjun from an opponent’s discard.

Chombo 「冲合,錯和」	A penalty, applied to particularly unacceptable mahjong plays, such as winning with an invalid hand or destroying the wall. Typically, the penalty results in a mangan payment to all players and restarts the current round. Otherwise, penalty values may be subject to variation.

Chunchan 「中張」 Simples	The zone of tiles numbered from 2 through 8, representing tiles that can be grouped with tiles on each of its sides.

Chunchanhai 「中張牌」 Simples	The tiles in the zone numbered from 2 through 8. See tanyao for related yaku. Opposite of "yaochuuhai".

Daburon 「ダブロン」 Double ron	A rule that allows two people to simultaneously win from the same discarded tile.

Daiminkan 「大明槓」 Open kan	A kan formed with possession of three tile types, and calling on the discarded fourth tile.

Damaten 「黙聴」 Hidden tenpai	A tactic of holding tenpai without calling riichi.

Dejitaru 「デジタル」 Digital	A school of thought focused on the outcome of a game, explained by probability and statistics.

Dora 「ドラ」 Bonus tile	A feature to the game which rewards han to a hand, while in possession of tiles indicated by the revealed tile from the dead wall.

Dorahyouji 「ドラ表示」 Dora indicator	The flipped tile on the dead wall, indicating the dora.

Enchousen 「延長戦」 Overtime	Extra game round, in the event where no player scores more than the target points at the end of a normal game.

Fu 「符」 Mini-points	A unit used to measure the hand's score, based on tile group and wait composition.

Furikomi 「振り込み」 Payment	A payment, also “barai”.

Furiten 「振聴」 Sacred discard	A rule that disables a player's ability to win by discard, due to the presence of a winning tile in the discard and/or the declining of a win during riichi.

Fuuro 「副露」 tile group	Calling of discarded tile or closed kan, also "naki".

Fuutei 「副底」 Base fu	The 20 base Fu used when calculating score, given by default rather than from composition.

Genbutsu 「現物」 Safe tile	A 100% safe tile.

Goumii 「ゴーミー」 Trash, garbage	The cheapest tsumo value, of 500 points from the dealer and 300 points from the non-dealers.

Gukei 「愚形」 Bad shape	Any hand considered to posses a bad shape.

Gyakugiri 「逆切り」 Reverse cut	A suit of tiles being discarded in reverse suji order.

Gyakuten 「逆転」 Passing, reversal	Refers to a situation, where a player passes up another player in points, at the end of the game.

Haipai 「配牌」 Start hand	The players' dealt tiles at the beginning of a hand.

Haiteihai 「海底牌」 Last draw	The last drawable tile in the wall.

Haiyama 「牌山」 Wall	The walls from which tiles are drawn.

Han 「飜」	The hand value count based on yaku value and/or dora.

Hanchan 「半荘」 Full East-South game	A game consisting of an East and South round.

Haneman 「跳満」 1.5x Slam	A hand worth 6 or 7 han.

Harabote 「腹ボテ」	A Shanpon or Tanki wait embedded inside a Shuntsu. For example, 4556 waiting on 5.

Hikkake 「引っ掛け」 Trap	Discard tiles indicating particular tiles as safe, when in fact, they are not - contrary to standard defense reading.

Honba 「本場」 Repeat counter	A counter to indicate the number of hands in-between winning hands, usually indicated by 100-point sticks.

Houjuu 「放銃」 Deal in	To deal into a hand.

Houra 「和了」 Woned (past tense)	To win a hand

Houteihai 「河底牌」 Last discard	The very last discarded tile for a hand, which may not subject to any tile calls other than "ron".

Iichan 「一荘」 4 round game	A game consisting of East, South, West, and North rounds. More common in Chinese variants.

Ikasama 「イカサマ」	To cheat using sleight of hand, etc.

Inchiki 「インチキ」 Rigging	Cheating by manipulating devices integral to the game (autodealer, game client) or outside it (cameras, telegraphs, radio).

Jansou 「雀荘」 Mahjong parlor	A public place specifically used to host and cater mahjong play

Jantou 「雀頭」 Pair, eye	The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also “atama”.

Jigokumachi 「地獄待ち」 Hell wait	A wait in which all but one of the winning tiles are visible or claimed.

Jihai 「字牌」 Honor tiles	The honor tiles (sangenpai and kazehai).

Jikaze 「自風」 Self wind	Your seat wind.

Jun 「巡」 Turn	The turn number within a round.

Kabe 「壁」	A tile-counting technique that measures the possibility of someone making Shuntsu based on how many instances of a tile are visible.

Kakan 「加槓」 Upgraded kan	A kan that was upgraded from a tile grouped set, from a player's own draws or hand.

Kamicha 「上家」	The player to the left of one's perspective.

Kandora 「カンドラ」 Added dora	Additional dora indicators, when the call for kan is invoked.

Kata agari 「片和がり」	A hand tenpai for at least one invalid tile.

Kata suji 「片筋」 Half suji	An outer tile along a suji interval.

Kawa 「河」 Pond, Discard pile	Meaning "river". This describes the discarded tiles.

Kantsu 「槓子」 Quad	A tile group of four identical tiles, which must be declared as kan to be counted as such.

Kanchan 「嵌張」 Closed wait	A wait that completes the inside of a Shuntsu, like a 4-6 waiting on 5.

Kandora 「カンドラ」	Additional dora indicators revealed after calling kan.

Karaten 「カラテン」 Empty tenpai	The state of a tenpai hand, by which all available waiting tiles are not available due to discards and/or dora indicators.

Kazehai 「風牌」 Winds	Wind tiles.

Keishiki tenpai 「形式聴牌」	A state of tenpai that contains no yaku. As long as the hand is waiting for a tile that could exist anywhere outside a player's hand and calls, the hand is considered tenpai.

Kikenhai 「危険牌」 Dangerous tile	Dangerous tile, or a tile that may be likely used by another player to win with.

Kiriage Mangan 「切り上げ満貫」 Rounded Mangan	A rule where 3 Han 60 Fu and 4 Han 30 Fu are rounded up to Mangan.

Kiru 「切る」 Discard	To discard a tile.

Koutsu 「刻子」 Triplet	A tile group of three identical tiles.

Kuikae 「喰い替え」	A rule that allows you to call a tile, then discard another tile that could have completed the tile group. For example, calling a 1 when you have 234 and then discard a 4.

Kuisagari 「喰い下がり」	A property of some yaku that reduces the han value by 1 when the hand is open.

Kuitan 「喰い断」 Open tanyao	A rule that allows tanyao to be open.

Kyoku 「局」 Round, Hand session	A portion of the game, starting from the dealing of tiles and ends with the declaration of a win, aborted hand, or draw. Examples: East 1, Honba 0. South 2, Honba 1.

Machi 「待ち」 Wait pattern	The tiles waiting for with a tenpai hand.

Mangan 「満貫」	A cap applied to the standard scoring equation. Hands worth 3 han 70+ fu. 4 han 40+ fu, or 5 han are valued at mangan.

Manzu 「萬子」 Characters	One of the three numbered suits, consisting of a kanji number plus 萬, meaning 10000.

Mawashiuchi 「回し打ち」 Avoidance play	The strategy of attempting to develop a hand, while discarding only safe tiles.

Menhon 「メンホン」	Abbreviation for Menzen-Honitsu, a Mixed-Flush hand in closed state.

Mentanpin 「メンタンピン」	Abbreviation for Menzen-Tanyao-Pinfu, a common set of yaku.

Mentsu 「面子」 tile group, Group (tiles)	The tile groups: koutsu, shuntsu, and kantsu.

Menzen 「門前」 Closed hand	A fully closed hand, thus no open tile groups.

Min 「明」 Open	Meaning “light”, refers to tiles that have been exposed by calling.

Minjun 「明順」 Open sequence	An open shuntsu, or a sequence of three consecutive tiles, formed by calling chii on the previously missing tile. A concealed shuntsu would be an anjun.

Minkou 「明刻」 Open triplet	An open koutsu made by calling a discarded tile.

Minogashi 「見逃し」 Let free	The act of declining a winning tile.

Moupai 「盲牌」 Blind touch	The act of reading a tile by touch, instead of looking at the tile.

Naka suji 「中筋」 Middle suji	The center number along a suji interval.

Naki 「鳴き」	Calling a discarded tile.

Nan 「南」 South	South wind tile.

Nashi 「なし,ナシ,無し」 Invalid, off	States that the preceding rule is not in effect. For example, as in kuikae nashi for disallowing players to call a tile and immediately discard another tile which would have also completed the called tile group.

Nashi Nashi 「ナシナシ」	Ruleset which disallows kuitan and atozuke. Opposite of Ari Ari.

Nobetan 「延べ単」 Extended tanki	A double Tanki wait, e.g. 4567 waiting on 4 or 7.

Nomi 「ノミ」 Only	A hand with a single yaku and no dora, such as riichi nomi meaning riichi only. Not used for nagashi mangan or yakuman.

Noten 「ノーテン」 No tenpai	When your hand is not in tenpai at the end of the round.

Noten bappu 「ノーテン罰符」 Noten penalty	A payment made at the end of a round by those who are not in tenpai (or choose not to reveal their hands) to those who are in tenpai.

Nukidora 「抜きドラ」 Extracted dora	A tile that counts as Dora when extracted from the hand, e.g. flower tiles or the Pei (North) in most three-player variants.

Okaruto 「オカルト」 Occult, Superstition	A school of thought tying game outcome with luck, flow, mahjong demons, psychology, etc.

Oka 「オカ」 Winner bonus	First place bonus applied when calculating uma.

Oikake riichi 「追いかけリーチ」 Riichi roulette	To declare riichi after someone else rather than defend.

Okurikan 「送り槓」	Four tiles that could be called for kan, but rather left undeclared in order to use the tiles for other tile groups.

Oorasu 「オーラス」 All last, Last hand	The final regular hand of a game.

Otakaze 「客風」 Off wind tiles	Non-bonus wind tiles. For example, if seated South in the East round, then Otakaze are West and North tiles.

Otoshi 「落とし」 Dropping	The act of dropping a tile.

Oya 「親」 Dealer	The dealer position, seated east

Pai 「牌」 Draw	Generic term for a tile draw, usually attached to specific tile draws like "rinshanpai" or "haiteihai".

Pao 「包」	A property of certain yakuman that causes one person to be responsible for the whole payment if they discarded the tile that made it a yakuman.

Pei 「北」 North	North wind tile.

Penchan 「辺張」 End wait	A wait consisting of 12 waiting on 3, or 89 waiting on 7.

Pinzu 「筒子」 Dots, Circles	The suit consisting of dot patterns.

Pon 「ポン」 Open triplet	A tile call used to make a minkou from an opponent’s discard.

Renchan 「連荘」	A continuation of dealer position because the dealer either won or was tenpai at the end of the round.

Riipai 「理牌」 Sorting	Arranging the tiles in your hand.

Rinshanpai 「嶺上牌」 Dead wall draw	The tile drawn after making a Kan.

Ron 「栄 or ロン」 Deal in	A win using an opponent’s discard.

Routouhai 「老頭牌」 Terminals	The tiles numbered 1 and 9.

Ryanhan shibari 「二飜縛り」 2-han minimum	A minimum limit of 2-han is applied to winning hands. Usually, this is applied when the honba count reaches 5.

Ryankan 「両嵌」	Two kanchan shaped taatsu merged together, e.g. 357 which can be completed by either 4 or 6.

Ryanmen 「両面」 Open wait	A two-sided wait, like 56 waiting on 4 or 7.

Ryuukyoku 「流局」 Drawn hand	The end of the hand, where every tile not in players' hands and the dead wall has been drawn and discarded; and no winning hand was determined.

Saikoro 「骰子」 Dice	The dice, used to determine dealer position and wall breaks.

Sakigiri 「先切り」	The act of discarding potentially dangerous tiles, before they actually become dangerous.

Sakizuke 「先付け」	Same as atozuke. Some people think that sakizuke is the opposite of atozuke, but that is incorrect.

Sanbaiman 「三倍満」	A hand worth 11 or 12 han.

Sangenpai 「三元牌」 Dragons	The dragon tiles: Haku, Hatsu, and Chun.

Sanma 「三麻」 Three player, 3P	The game played with three players.

Sashikomi 「差し込み」	Intentionally dealing into an opponent’s hand.

Senten 「センテン」	A 1,000 point hand.

Shaa 「西」 West	The west tile.

Shabo 「シャボ」 Dual pair	Abbreviation of shanpon.

Shanten 「向聴」	Number of tiles needed to reach tenpai.

Shanpon 「双ポン」 Dual pairs	A wait consisting of two pairs, one of which must be upgraded to a koutsu.

Shibori 「絞り」	Holding on to tiles that an opponent would otherwise be likely to pon or chi.

Shimocha 「下家」 Right player	The player to the right.

Shoku 「色」 Color	Suit. Literally means "color".

Shonpai 「生牌」 Live tile	A tile that has not yet been discarded this round.

Shouhai 「少牌」 Short hand	Having lesser tiles in hand.

Shuntsu 「順子」 Sequence	This is the generic term for, three consecutive tiles of the same suit, whether open or closed. Chii is used to call a tile to complete a shuntsu and set it aside as a minjun (open). A concealed (closed) shuntsu is an anjun.

Shuupai 「数牌」 Number tiles	The number tiles. Also “suupai”.

Somete 「染め手」 Flushing hand	A common saying of flushing hand, usually Honitsu (Half Flush) and Chinitsu (Full Flush). Literally means "dyeing hand".

Souzu 「索子」 Bamboo tiles	The suit consisting of patterns of bamboo sticks.

Suji 「筋」 Tile interval	The tiles that complete ryanmen (open waits). Means “muscle”.

Suupai 「数牌」 Number tiles	The number tiles. Also “shuupai”.

Suteru 「捨てる」 To discard	To discard a tile.

Taahai 「多牌」 Long hand	Having too many tiles in hand.

Taatsu 「塔子」 Protogroup	Any tile pair that can be turned into a tile group, or shuntsu, with one more tile. For example, 46 can be completed with a 5.

Takame 「高目」	The specific tile with a multiple tile wait, during tenpai, that would produce the most points. Opposite of yasume.

Tanyaohai 「断幺牌」 Simples	The tiles numbered 2 through 8. Also “chunchan”.

Tanki 「単騎」 Pair wait	A wait on a single tile to complete the pair.

Tedashi 「手出し」	To discard a tile originally from hand. Opposite of tsumogiri.

Tenbou 「点棒」 Point sticks	Point sticks used for manual scoring.

Tenpai 「聴牌」 Ready	A hand that needs only one tile to win.

Tenpane 「テンパネ」	The advantage of rounding up to the higher 10 fu mark, when just crossing the previous 10 fu. Example: Being 2 fu above 30 fu, allowing an above rounding of 40 fu.

Tobi 「トビ」 Bankrupt, Negative	The condition by which players points fall below zero (go into negative).

Tochuu ryuukyoku 「途中流局」 Abortive draw	Specific conditions that immediately ends a hand session.

Toitsu 「対子」 Pair	A pair of identical tiles.

Toimen 「対面」 Across	The player sitting directly across from you.

Ton 「東」 East	East wind tile.

Tonpuusen 「東風戦」 East only round	A game consisting of an East only round.

Tsumo 「自摸」 Self-draw	A self-drawn tile. Also short for Menzenchin tsumohou, or winning by self-draw.

Tsumogiri 「ツモ切り」	Discarding the tile that was just drawn. Opposite of tedashi.

Ukeire 「受け入れ」	The tile count for a hand in order to reduce shanten.

Uma 「ウマ」 +/-	An additional end game score, calculated based on the ante, plus-minus adjustment, and game rank.

Uradora 「裏ドラ」 Underneath dora	Additional dora located underneath previously revealed dora indicators, which can be earned by winning with riichi.

Urasuji 「裏筋」 Back vein	The discarded tile that lies just outside of a dangerous wait, one count higher (or lower) and represent a kanchan wait being upgraded to a ryanmen one

Wanpai 「王牌」 Dead wall	The “dead” section of wall that can’t be used except for Dora indicators and Kan draws.

Wareme 「割れ目」	A rule that doubles any payment involving the player whose wall was broken at the start of the hand.

Yakitori 「焼き鳥」 Winless game	A game, by which a player did not win at least one hand during a game .

Yaku 「役」 Hand pattern	A required scoring pattern or condition in the hand that awards han, such as Tanyao or Toitoi.

Yakuman 「役満」 Limit hand	A hand worth 13 han or more, or a specific pattern among the yakuman classed hand patterns. Maximum points for a pattern is awarded without aotenjou applied.

Yama 「山」	The tile walls, literally means "mountains".

Yamagoshi 「山越し」	A tactic of declining a winning tile, until after one's subsequent turn.

Yamiten 「闇聴」	Another word for "damaten".

Yaochuuhai 「幺九牌」 1 and 9 tiles(?)	All tiles numbered 1 and 9 (routouhai) plus characters (jihai).

Yasude 「安手」 Cheap hand	A low scoring hand.

Yasume 「安目」	The specific tile(s) in a multiple wait that would produce the least points. Oppose of takame.

Zentsuppa 「全ツッパ」 All out	A strategy that attempts to win a hand at all costs while ignoring the possibility of dealing into an opponent’s hand.

List of terminology by alphabetical order

Terminology list

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